Sheriff Joe Arpaio, DOJ Reach Partial Settlement Over Lawsuit Accusing Him of Unlawful Detainment, Maltreatment of Latino Immigrants

Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the six-time elected sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, has reached a partial settlement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) over its civil rights lawsuit against him, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, and Maricopa County, Arizona.

The lawsuit filed in May 2013 alleged Sheriff Arpaio and Maricopa County practiced unconstitutional conduct, including discriminatory policing against Latino immigrants during worksite raids and general traffic enforcement; likewise, the unlawful detention of Latino individuals, and maltreatment via failures to offer adequate language access and use of disparaging words against inmates such as "wetback," "Mexican b*tches" and "stupid Mexicans." Sheriff Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff's office routinely retaliated against those who opposed their practices.

According to DOJ, the settlement focuses on claims that the Maricopa Country Sheriff's Offices (MCSO) unlawfully detained Latinos during worksite raids of local business, violating the Fourth and 14th amendments. Also, those visibly critical of MSCO and Sheriff Arpaio were retaliated against, which is a direct violation of the First amendment.

Alongside filing a joint motion requesting that the federal district court in Arizona approve and enforce the settlement agreement, the Civil Rights Division also reached a separate settlement that confirmed claims that MCSO failed to provide adequate language access to those not socially familiar with the English language, violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

"The resolution of these claims, with the important safeguards against future constitutional violations included in these agreements, is in the best interests of the people of Maricopa County," said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Mark Kappelhoff of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. "The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office changed many of their practices after the commencement of our litigation, and these agreements ensure that progress continues and the Constitutional rights of the people of Maricopa County will be protected for the long term."

MCSO will be made to ensure that its future activities align with the federal law and the constitution. The DOJ shared, before MCSO can conduct worksite raids, it must first compose a written policies and protocols, then submitting them to the Civil Rights Division for review. This guarantees that future raids comply with application laws and constitutional protection. The Civil Rights Division will have full reign to demand documents and information to help them to regulate and decide if a worksite raid was legitimate.

Additionally, MCSO will be obliged to no longer violate the first amendment-protected rights through intimidation or retaliation. MCSO must provide limited English-proficient (LEP) Hispanic inmates with adequate language access; to do this they must improve policies and take responsible steps to identify LEP inmates, offer language assistance services and require all MCSO facilities to share vital announcements in English and Spanish. Bilingual staff, interpretation services and Spanish-language translations of written policies should be made available.

In the situation that the DOJ believes that MCSO is not in compliance, it will first attempt to resolve the issue with MCSO. After further compliance issues, the Civil Rights Division will bring MCSO before the federal district court in Arizona for disciplinary actions.

The Puente Human Rights Movement and National Netroots Nation spearheaded a demonstration against Sheriff Arpaio at the 4th Avenue jail on Friday, July 17. The two advocacy groups led hundreds of demonstrators, calling attention to the actions of the sheriff who claimed that his immigration efforts were keeping crime rates down and community members safe. Netroots sounded off about a recently launched petition that asks for ICE Director Sarah Saldaña to immediately remove ICE agents from Maricopa County jails and to stop supporting Arpaio's racism. Also, Puente Moment called for Arpaio's removal from office and ICE agents to depart from county jails.

"Arpaio will never willingly change his ways, as shown by his speech at Donald Trump's campaign stop in Phoenix. Maricopa County needs to remove Arpaio from office immediately and it needs to end the policies and institutions he's established with him," said Carlos Garcia, Director of the Puente Movement, in a statement.

"The racist policies that Arpaio spearheaded while in office set precedent for other states and were operationalized by the federal government. What we've seen in Phoenix paved the way for the President's record deportations and anti-immigrant backlash everywhere. The same community that has been terrorized by Arpaio for all these years will be the ones that ensure that when he leaves, it starts a new day and doesn't just put a new face on his terrible reign."