AZ: Sheriff Joe Arpaio sued by Justice Department

Sheriff Joe Arpaio sued by Justice Department in civil-rights probe

by Yvonne Wingett and JJ Hensley - Sept. 2, 2010 10:10 AM
The Arizona Republic

Sheriff Joe Arpaio has been sued by the U.S. Justice Department for refusing to cooperate with a civil-rights probe into police practices and jail operations.

Arpaio said the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix, is disappointing given that he and his office were cooperating on the federal probe. "I thought we were really close to getting this resolved," the sheriff said.

Arpaio restated his confidence that Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies do not target Hispanic citizens because of their race, and said if the Justice Department had any evidence of racial profiling, they wouldn't be suing him to get records to prove that deputies profile.

"This thing is just camoflauge," he said.

The lawsuit comes after weeks of back-and-forth letters between the agencies, threats to strip the county of federal funding, and a meeting in Washington last week among attorneys to discuss the investigation.

A spokeswoman for the Justice Department has said this is the first time in the last 30 years that a police or sheriff's agency has refused to cooperate with a Title VI investigation. Thursday's action marks the first time the agency is suing to compel access to documents and facilities.

Since March 2009, the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division has been investigating Arpaio's operation amid accusations of discrimination and unconstitutional searches and seizures related to the sheriff's immigration-enforcement efforts.

The investigation is being conducted under the authority of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbids discrimination related to programs that receive federal funds.

The civil-rights probe is not related to a separate federal abuse-of-power investigation of Arpaio's office that has been the subject of grand-jury testimony.

In the 1990s the Justice Department investigated Arpaio for civil rights abuses in Maricopa County Jails and he cooperated, leading to a consent decree to change certain jail conditions.

Arpaio's initial decision not to cooperate with this investigation has led the Sheriff's Office and the Justice Department into uncharted territory.

But Arpaio has changed course in recent weeks, implying that his office is trying to cooperate with federal civil-rights investigators.

"Can't they wait another week?" Arpaio asked. "Why can't they give us a little more time."

"I thought we were really close to getting this thing resolved.

Arpaio appeared with Arizona Sen. Russell Pearce and Rep. Steve Montenegro at a press conference Thursday to promote a political non-profit group the men are affiliated with, but he quickly found the event dominated by news that the federal government had sued his agency.

"They can sue me but as Russell always says, 'take the handcuffs off the cops'," Arpaio said. "I'm not going to be intimidated by the federal government going to court against us."

The sheriff's failure to cooperate could cost the county millions of dollars of federal funding. Last year, the county received $113 million in federal funds, according to county records; of that, the Sheriff's Office received $3.8 million. County officials must agree that they will not discriminate in order to receive those funds.

Arpaio believes the inquiry is focused on his immigration sweeps, patrols where deputies flood an area of a city — in some cases heavily Latino areas — to seek out traffic violators and arrest other offenders.

Critics say his deputies pull people over for minor traffic infractions because of the color of their skin so they can ask them for their proof of citizenship.

Arpaio denies allegations of racial profiling, saying people are stopped if deputies have probable cause to believe they've committed crimes and that it's only afterward that deputies find many of them are illegal immigrants.

The sheriff's office has said half of the 1,032 people arrested in the sweeps have been illegal immigrants.

Last year, the federal government stripped Arpaio of his special power to enforce federal immigration law. The sheriff continued his sweeps through the enforcement of state immigration laws.

Last year, the nearly $113 million that the county received from the federal government accounted for about 5 percent of the county's $2 billion budget. Arpaio's office said it receives $3 million to $4 million each year in federal funds.

In a separate investigation, a federal grand jury in Phoenix is examining allegations that Arpaio has abused his powers with actions such as intimidating county workers by showing up at their homes at nights and on weekends.

Includes information from The Associated Press


The federal lawsuit- http://www.azdatapages.com/datacenter/m ... wsuit.html


Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/ ... z0yPZMwNVw

Added to the Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-5625--0-0.html

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION IS AGAINST THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. THEY WANT TO GRANT AMNESTY TO ILLEGAL ALIENS. AMERICANS: THIS NOVEMBER DO NOT VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS AND IN 2012 DO NOT VOTE FOR OBAMA . THEY ARE DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY WITH ILLEGAL ALIENS. IT IS TIME TO REMOVE FROM OFFICE ALL THE DEMOCRATS. NO DEMOCRATS = NO AMNESTY.

Unbelievable! Federal government sues Arizona's Joe Arpaio
September 2nd, 2010 7:17 pm PT.
Kara L. Kraemer

The federal government said it is conducting an investigation into allegations that Sheriff Joe Arpaio's department discriminated against those with limited English-language skills. Rumors are that Arpaio racially profiles as he conducts crime sweeps through Latino neighborhoods, arrests individuals for crimes, and then asks about their immigration status.

The sheriff's office reported that half of the 1,032 people arrested in the sweeps have been illegal immigrants. In short, he is doing his job and doing it above and beyond the call of duty to try to protect our borders from potential drug smuggling. We need more Sheriff Joes.

The DOJ filed suit against him because he refused to hand over information relating to an alleged "pattern or practice of discriminatory law enforcement conduct."

They claim they had been trying to get the information since March 2009. According to Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division:

•"The actions of the sheriff's office are unprecedented. It is unfortunate that the department was forced to resort to litigation to gain access to public documents and facilities."

There is something very absurd about an administration which files a lawsuit against one of our greatest citizens in favor of illegal aliens and yet whose president bows to a Saudi king as if he were royalty.

However, as they will soon find out, Joe will not take this harassment lying down. As common sense, love for country, and the reason of law and justice is with him, he will no doubt expose this joke of an administration fairly easily and keep the hearts of the American people on his side.

Arpaio has already judged that the feds were disingenuous and were trying to cover up the fact that they had no evidence to show his office was guilty of discrimination. In statements released this afternoon, he has said:

•"These actions make it abundantly clear that Arizona, including this sheriff, is Washington's new whipping boy. Now it's time to take the gloves off. ... It's time Americans everywhere wake up and see this administration for what it really is. Calculating, underhanded at times and certainly not looking out for the best interests of the legal citizens residing in this country."
•"The Obama administration intended to sue us all along, no matter what we did to try to avert it. They smiled in our faces and then stabbed us in the back with this lawsuit."
•"They have hundreds of thousands of reports, hundreds of thousands. They're so broad, we're trying to narrow it down. We're trying to work with them."
•"I think they know we have not been racial profiling, so what's the next step - camouflage the situation, go to the courts, and make it look like I'm not cooperating."

Arizona Senator Russell Pearce, an interesting patriot in his own right, called the lawsuit a "witch hunt."

•"This is the game that's played. They couldn't find any violations ... that's why it's broad, that's why they're very vague about what they want. It doesn't take a very high IQ to figure out what's going on with these folks."

The suit came as a surprise as Arpaio's attorney Robert Driscoll said that cooperation was promised as recently as last week.

•"We were awaiting a response from DOJ, and this lawsuit is apparently it. This lawsuit is nothing more than an attempt to obscure the fact that DOJ still has no case."

www.examiner.com

Video of Neil Cavuto talking to Sheriff Joe at the source link.
~~~~

Arpaio: Justice Dept. 'Sandbagged' Me With Lawsuit in Civil Rights Probe

Published September 02, 2010
Comments (705)

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Thursday the Justice Department "sandbagged" him with the lawsuit it filed earlier in the day against him.

The Justice Department claims in its suit that the controversial Arizona lawman refused for more than a year to turn over records in an investigation into allegations his department discriminates against Hispanics.

"It surprises me because our lawyers have been meeting with the Justice Department officials the last week and we were cooperating," Arpaio told Fox News' Neil Cavuto. "Now all at once, I'm being sandbagged and they're suing me."

The lawsuit calls Arpaio and his office's defiance "unprecedented," and said the federal government has been trying since March 2009 to get officials to comply with its probe of alleged discrimination, unconstitutional searches and seizures, and having English-only policies in his jails that discriminate against people with limited English skills.

Arpaio had been given until Aug. 17 to hand over documents it first asked for 15 months ago.

Arpaio's office had said it has fully cooperated in the jail inquiry but won't hand over additional documents into the examination of the alleged unconstitutional searches because federal authorities haven't said exactly what they were investigating.

Arpaio questioned why the lawsuit was being filed now.

"It's been a year and half they've been investigating me and my office for alleged racial profiling. Nothing has happened. But why now?" he told Fox News. "They sued the state two months ago. They just filed another suit against some county schools. And now here I'm being sued."

"So I think there's a move afoot to go after Arizona because they don't like us enforcing illegal immigration laws," he added. "So they're really going after the people of Arizona. The people of Arizona want something done and now they're zeroing in with these lawsuits."

It's the latest action against Arizona by the federal government, which earlier sued the state to stop its strict new immigration law that requires police officers to question people about their immigration status.

"The actions of the sheriff's office are unprecedented," said Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the department's civil rights division. "It is unfortunate that the department was forced to resort to litigation to gain access to public documents and facilities."

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix and names Arpaio, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and the county.

Arizona's new law -- most of which a federal judge has put on hold -- mirrors many of the policies Arpaio has put into place in the greater Phoenix area, where he set up a hot line for the public to report immigration violations, conducts crime and immigration sweeps in heavily Latino neighborhoods and frequently raids workplaces for people in the U.S. illegally.

Arpaio believes the inquiry is focused on his immigration sweeps, patrols where deputies flood an area of a city -- in some cases heavily Latino areas -- to seek out traffic violators and arrest other offenders.

Critics say his deputies pull people over for minor traffic infractions because of the color of their skin so they can ask them for their proof of citizenship.

Arpaio denies allegations of racial profiling, saying people are stopped if deputies have probable cause to believe they've committed crimes and that it's only afterward that deputies find many of them are illegal immigrants.

The sheriff's office has said half of the 1,032 people arrested in the sweeps have been illegal immigrants.

Last year, the federal government stripped Arpaio of his special power to enforce federal immigration law. The sheriff continued his sweeps through the enforcement of state immigration laws.

Last year, the nearly $113 million that the county received from the federal government accounted for about 5 percent of the county's $2 billion budget. Arpaio's office said it receives $3 million to $4 million each year in federal funds.

In a separate investigation, a federal grand jury in Phoenix is examining allegations that Arpaio has abused his powers with actions such as intimidating county workers by showing up at their homes at nights and on weekends.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

http://oneoldvet.com/
www.foxnews.com

Feds ask judge to order Sheriff Joe Arpaio to cooperate
by Associated Press (September 14th, 2010 @ 10:06am)
Comments:22

PHOENIX - The Justice Department has asked a federal judge to force Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his office to provide full and immediate access to records and facilities for a civil-rights investigation without going to trial.

The motion for summary judgment filed Monday also asks the court to force the sheriff's office to comply with all future requests involving the probe.

The Justice Department filed an unprecedented lawsuit against Arpaio's office on Sept. 2 for refusing to turn over documents or allow federal officials to evaluate jails and interview staff.

Federal officials want extensive records related to booking procedures, language and interpretation services, arrests, and access to staff and jails.

Arpaio had been given until Aug. 17 to hand over documents the federal government first asked for 15 months ago, when it started investigating alleged discrimination, unconstitutional searches and seizures, and jail policies that discriminate against people with limited English skills.

Arpaio has said he provided ``hundreds of thousands'' of reports but hasn't turned over others because the department's request was too broad.

Lawyers for the Justice Department filed their motion even before the sheriff's office replied to the lawsuit. The sheriff's Washington, D.C.-based attorney, Robert Driscoll, said has had not yet seen the motion and declined comment Monday.

The lawsuit alleges the sheriff's office is in violation of federal civil-rights laws by refusing to fully cooperate with the investigation into police practices and jail operations.

The federal investigation dates to 2008 and seeks to determine whether Arpaio's office discriminates on the basis of national origin. The sheriff has denied any discrimination.

The civil-rights probe is unrelated to a separate abuse-of-power criminal investigation against the sheriff's office by the Justice Department, which is connected to long-running disputes with county government and the judiciary and has led to months of grand jury testimony.

www.ktar.com