Maricopa County, Arizona Continues to Pay for Sheriff Arpaio’s Racial Profiling of Latina/os
Before he lost an election in 2016, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona and the Maricopa County Sheriff ‘s Office (MSCO) were found to have engaged in racial profiling in immigration enforcement and was enjoined from engaging in a pattern and practice of unlawful discrimination against Latina/os in Melendres v. Arpaio. Here is how the Ninth Circuit described the MSCO’s immigration enforcement activities:
“The United States brought this action to halt racially discriminatory policing policies instituted by Joseph Arpaio, the former Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona. Under Arpaio’s leadership, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) routinely targeted Latino drivers and passengers for pretextual traffic stops aimed at detecting violations of federal immigration law. Based on that and other unlawful conduct, the United States sued Arpaio, MCSO, and the County of Maricopa . . . . The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the United States on the claims relating to the unlawful traffic stops; the parties settled the remaining claims. Maricopa County is the lone appellant here. Its main contention is that it cannot be held liable for the unlawful traffic-stop policies implemented by Arpaio.”
President Trump in 2017 pardoned Arpaio for a criminal contempt conviction for failing to comply with court orders in the Melendres case.
Jacques Billeaud for the Associated Press reports on the continuing costs to Maricopa County taxpayers of Sheriff Arpaio’s immigration enforcement activities. He reports that “[t]he costs to taxpayers from [the] lawsuit . . . are expected to reach $202 million by summer 2022. Officials approved a tentative county budget Monday that provides $31 million for the cost of complying with court orders in the fiscal year that begins on July 1.” (bold added). The costs are for attorneys’ fees and for complying with court-ordered reforms to the MSCO.
KJ