GUADALUPE, ARIZ. — Six months ago, this town of 5,500 took a stand against the most powerful lawman in the state.
As Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's deputies swept through town during a controversial operation searching for illegal immigrants, Mayor Rebecca Jimenez confronted the 76-year-old sheriff and told him he wasn't wanted.
The town, founded by Yaqui Indians a century ago, became a symbol of a grass-roots rejection of Arpaio's tough anti-immigration tactics.
But now, Guadalupe is having second thoughts about how it fought the sheriff.
After the confrontation, Arpaio struck back by canceling his contract to patrol the one-square-mile town, forcing officials to search for another agency to protect Guadalupe.
Jimenez, 36, was replaced as mayor, and the city's new leaders are trying to find some way to persuade Arpaio to stay.
"This town really does need him," said Janice LaBorin, 25, a home healthcare worker. "There are too many criminals and little gangbangers here."
Plenty of people still want Arpaio out, but among some, defiance has given way to contrition.
Jimenez "took the wrong tactic," said Lupita Llamas, the owner of two Mexican restaurants in a mostly empty colonnaded shopping arcade. Arpaio is "a powerful person. You have to talk to him carefully."
The rift between Guadalupe and the sheriff began the night of April 3, when Arpaio brought his anti-illegal immigrant sweep to the parking lot of the Family Dollar store.
The two-day operation was one of several Arpaio has launched across Maricopa County ostensibly to stop crime, but also to identify illegal immigrants.
Arpaio, who calls himself the "toughest sheriff in America," has taken the aggressive position that he can arrest and deport illegal immigrants even if they have committed no serious crimes.
Deputies stopped people for the slightest infractions -- a cracked windshield, broken taillight, jaywalking -- and asked whether they were in the country legally.
Residents complained that deputies were stopping anyone who looked Latino, which is basically the entire town. Guadalupe is 51% Latino and 49% Native American, according to census figures.
Helicopters buzzed overhead while Arpaio held forth before television cameras at his parking lot command post.
Jimenez confronted him there. As cameras rolled, she complained that his news release falsely stated that town officials had asked him to come to fight illegal immigration.
