It’s hard for a lot of people in Maricopa County to understand why there’s so much national consternation about Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his tactics for arresting illegal immigrants. I suspect one reason behind the gap between local and national views is because we are simply so close to the issue. “Illegal immigration is a huge problem here. Sheriff Arpaio is trying to do something about it. What more do we need to know?”

Well, I came across a story over the weekend that provides an analogy for why it’s important to not simply take Arpaio at his word and to independently determine if the rights of American citizens and foreigners are being trampled under the guise of cracking down on illegal activity.

Tenaha is a tiny town of 1,046 on the Texas-Louisana border that appears to have an official policy of forcing black travelers to turn over their money and their vehicles to the police to avoid facing drug charges. The Chicago Tribune reported on a federal class-action lawsuit filed against the town. The leading lawyer says only about one in four cases did Tenaha actually charge someone with drug possession from 2006 to 2008. Nearly three-quarters of the time, the police seized anything they could put their hands on without finding any drugs, or at least without charging the “suspects” with a crime.

The police tactic described is particularly chilling. Imagine traveling by motor vehicle to a distant part of the country. You are carrying extra cash, maybe because you are going to gamble at a casino, or maybe you just don’t trust credit cards. You are pulled over in a small town by the local police and they come up with a reason to search your car. Then, you are shocked when told they found some drugs hidden under the seat or in the trunk. You are facing felony charges and potentially serious jail time.

The police say if you will “voluntarily” turn over your money and some other possessions, they will let you go and the justice system will look more favorably on you if this eventually goes to court.

You know the police are lying about finding any drugs. But if you say “no,” you have to come up with bail money and you will be fighting this dark cloud far from home for months. Say “yes” and you lose your belongings, but at least you can walk away.

Officials in Tenaha say they are using state drug forfeiture laws as a tool to challenge a large amount of drug trafficking that passes through their community.

“We try to enforce the law,” Mayor George Bowers told the Chicago Tribune. “We’re not doing this to raise money.”

So, do you buy the mayor’s explanation? I sure don’t.

Add in the fact that police have pre-printed forms because they handle this type of “transaction” so often, and the evidence that blacks seem to be targeted beyond all rational proportions, and it seems like something sinister is going on.

The Tenaha mayor’s explanation has some eerie similarities to what the sheriff’s office said when it tried to convince Tribune reporters last year that deputies weren’t violating anyone’s civil rights while making illegal immigration stops, despite what those reporters saw with their own eyes.

It’s good that the federal government is taking a close look at what Arpaio is doing. What kind of long-term success can we hope to achieve against the dangers of illegal immigration if we have to sacrifice liberty and freedom from police abuse in the process?