Cain to meet 'America's Toughest Sheriff'

GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain planned to meet Monday with Arizona's Maricopa Country Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Arpaio who bills himself as "America's Toughest Sheriff," is known for his aggressive, and often controversial, position on immigration. 

According to Arpaio, Cain is the fourth candidate to seek his endorsement. Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) visited him in Arizona last month. 

Arpaio also tweeted last month that Texas Gov. Rick Perry had called him at home. Immigration issues have been a challenge for Perry’s campaign and he has been forced to defend his decision to extend in-state tuition breaks to undocumented students in his state.

“It will be nice to have another candidate visit for a good discussion,” Arpaio tweeted Monday.

Cain started a controversy over the weekend with what he later said was a joking suggestion to build an electrified fence on the border between the U.S. and Mexico.

“Oh, I’m sure he was joking,” Arpaio said of the idea. “But it probably means that he’s taking it serious to do something at the border and stop the illegal immigrations.”

Arpaio said he is interested in endorsing a candidate who will secure the border first, and then look at illegal immigration. “We got to get with it and either change the laws or enforce the laws we already have,” he said. “I’m not against a fence, but if you buy a ladder and hop over, I’d like to see people go to jail, not give them a free ride back to Mexico.”

Cain, currently a frontrunner in national polls, is scheduled to speak at a fundraiser in Phoenix on Monday night. The fundraiser was relocated to the Phoenix Convention Center because more than three times the expected number of tickets were sold, according to Arizona’s KTAR radio.

Cain will join most of the other GOP presidential hopefuls in Las Vegas for the CNN Western Republican Presidential Debate on Tuesday night.

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