The Washington left — like Speaker Nancy Pelosi — continues to rattle its powerful sabres against the wishes of the American people, who still want immigration to be legal, controlled and reduced.

One target has been "America's Toughest Sherriff" Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona. Both the Justice Department and Congress have announced they will investigate him for civil-rights violations. Sherriff Joe is famous for providing inmates with traditional prison stripes and housing them in low-cost tents to save the taxpayer's money.

However, a recent Rasmussen poll shows that Arizonans strongly support Arpaio's efforts against immigration anarchy.

Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Arizona voters have a favorable view of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose aggressive enforcement of laws against illegal immigration have triggered an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. Forty-six percent (46%) view the sheriff very favorably.

Just 26% have an unfavorable opinion of Arpaio, including 16% who are very unfavorable, according to a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Arizona voters. Seven percent (7%) are not sure.

Arizona voters also strongly approve of some of the tactics the sheriff employs to fight illegal immigration and crime related to it.

Seventy-four percent (74%), for example, believe that when a police officer pulls someone over for a traffic violation, they should automatically check to see if that person is in the country legally. Twenty-one percent (21%) disagree. These numbers are virtually identical to national findings on the same question.

Sixty-three percent (63%) say that if law enforcement officers know of places where immigrants gather to find work, they should sometimes conduct surprise raids to identify and deport illegal immigrants. Thirty-one percent (31%) oppose those raids. Voters nationally are a bit more supportive of this tactic to fight illegal immigration.

By way of comparison, job approval of Congress is currently polling at 30 percent. The same CBS survey (taken before Nancy Pelosi's pro-amnesty church chat) found the Speaker had an 18 percent favorability rating. Plus, 35 percent viewed her unfavorably, nearly twice her positive number. (Forty-seven percent were in the "Don't Know" category — lucky them.)

Instead of attacking Sheriff Arpaio in a political witch hunt, the Democrats would be better off to emulate his policies in order to become more respected among voters.

Right, that'll happen.