Joe Arpaio Racial Profiling Case: Arizona Sheriff Rejects Oversight of Court-Appointed Monitor
According to a Friday court filing, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio is fighting against rulings made by U.S. District Judge Murray Snow to address findings of racial profiling in Arpaio's department, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. Among the disputed rulings is the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee Arapio's compliance.
Snow ruled that Arpaio's agency treated Latinos unfairly by singling them out and prolonging their detentions. Arpaio 's office is appealing the ruling.
The parties are struggling to reach an agreement. As a result, Snow will provide more guidance in a status conference Aug. 30. The parties disagree over major points, especially the presence of a court-appointed monitor. The monitor would have the authority to oversee various tasks such as retraining deputies.
"If the court were to appoint a monitor, the role and authority of such monitor must be reconciled so that the monitor's role does not supplant the elected sheriff's authority under the Arizona Constitution and Arizona statute," the sheriff's office's lawyers stated in the latest filing.
"The remedies are coming, like it or not... Without a monitor, who can trust the agreements are being met?" Mary Rose Wilcox, Maricopa County Supervisor, said according to NBCLatino.
The ruling does not stop Arpaio, 81, from enforcing state immigration laws. It does, however, impose a a lengthy list of patrol restrictions. This includes rules regarding the stopping of a vehicle with a Latino passenger due to race, as well as the detainment of Latino passengers due to suspicions that they are undocumented immigrants.
Snow's ruling also requires increased racial-profiling training for deputies. In addition, both parties agreed to create more systems that will record data about the length and cause of deputies' traffic stops.
A group of Latinos sued Arpaio's agency, claiming their constitutional rights were violated in both routine traffic patrols and sweeps, also known as special immigration patrols.
Arpaio's office arrested 1,500 people in the 20 sweeps since Jan. 2008. A full 43 percent of those arrested were either American citizens or in the country legally.
There was also a suit filed by the federal Justice Department alleging that Arpaio's immigration patrols are guilty of greater civil rights violations. This includes claims that the office threatens its critics and punishes Spanish-speaking inmates with poor English skills. Arpaio denies these claims.