WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice sued Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his Phoenix law enforcement department Thursday, alleging a pattern of abuse and racism against Latinos, especially immigrants, and asking a federal judge to force the 20-year, often outspoken and brazen sheriff to stop racially profiling Latinos and abusing them in his jails.
“The police are supposed to protect and support our community, not divide them,” said Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez, head of the department’s Civil Rights Division. “This is an abuse of power case involving a sheriff and a sheriff’s office that has ignored the Constitution.”
Arpaio, who was warned in December that a lawsuit was coming if he did not clean up his jails and sheriff’s patrols, attempted to block the suit by issuing a 17-page document Wednesday called “Integrity, Accountability, Community.” Perez said the document was “largely an admission of the problem.”
But, Perez added, “this too-little too-late document cobbled together beyond the 11th hour” was unsatisfactory and federal authorities decided Thursday to file their suit in U.S. District Court in Phoenix.
It asks a federal judge to “put in place any remedies to correct the violations” by naming an independent monitor to oversee the sheriff’s office, develop reform policies and possibly find Arpaio and other top sheriff’s officials in contempt of court if they do not comply.
Arpaio, however, who often has been incredibly stubborn when anyone criticizes his entrenched power, could ask for a trial to rebut the allegations. Perez warned that the sheriff would be doing so at his own peril.
“If Maricopa County wants to go to the mat and go to trial,” Perez said, “there is a lot at stake.”
Among the findings by Justice officials in the suit are that Arpaio allowed and encouraged his deputies to randomly profile Latino motorists and stop them for little reason.
“If you look Latino, you are too often fair game,” Perez said.
Arpaio remains a popular figure in Arizona. Andi Bell, who organized a walk of support for Arpaio last month, said any lawsuit against the sheriff is unfair.
“Everyone has been going after Joe Arpaio. He does not exist to break the law,” Bell told the Los Angeles Times. “The Department of Justice and the administration is not protecting us in Arizona — he is.”
Other alleged violations detailed Thursday were not providing language assistance to Spanish speakers in the jails, and Arpaio’s retaliatory actions against local critics, which have included judges, lawyers and community leaders.
As an example of what he called pervasive demeaning behavior against Latinos, Perez said deputies once circulated a picture of a Chihuahua dog in swimwear, with the caption, “A rare photo of a Mexican Navy Seal.”
___
©2012 the Los Angeles Times
Only in America could a person who enforces the law be taken to court for doing his job. This guy has let cameras in his jail his office and with his deputies on patrol. He has made a point of not targeting folks based on race but actual infractions.
He’s not doing his job. He’s harassing and locking up innocent people for the crime of being brown, and even those who are guilty are being hideously mistreated – and as he conducts his witch hunt against illegal immigrants, his department ignores real crimes committed in his community.
Arpaio a scumbag and a disgrace to law enforcement, and his kind of thuggery has not place in any civilized society.
Arpaio is not an Obama supporter. He has questioned Obama’s birth certificate and been sandbagged by Obama’s thugs, so it’s no wonder he is getting some heat from the Feds. I am increasingly uncomfortable with our President. There are too many discrepancies and unanswered questions about his past, his qualifications and his agenda. I hope everyone remembers ” The Manchurian Candidate ” and can understand the eminent danger we are all in, as Americans and a sovereign nation.
Obviously you aren’t a supporter either and then some. Goes beyond being a “birther”. I trust the R candidates much less although I’m not paranoid.
If mexicans/latinos are the majority of illegal immigrant criminals, why is profiling considered evil when it comes to protecting America, American citizens, and our way of life? I think it’s a joke that we tie our own hands when it comes to issues like these. Take the gloves off and do your job! What we should do is label every illegal criminal as a “Potential Terrorist” since we don’t really know who they are or their intentions. It baffels me that we are fighting a global war on terror yet people of unknown origin can simply walk into this country and milk our government giveaway programs with forged documents. NUTS!!!!
Arpaio has more guts, integrity and gonads than the entire Obama administration. He is doing the job he has been elected and directed to do. He has not been cowed by liberal politicians and their pc ways. And of course his department uses racial profiling to do their job. They look for illegal aliens and Maricopa County is on the Mexican Border! If it was on the Swiss border than profiling hispanics may be a no-no. Arpiao has been re-elected over and over, so he’s evidently doing a great job for his constituents and it;s obvious that he dosen’t care what some gutless liberal from Portland, Oregon or Portland, Maine thinks.