Joe Arpaio, the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, violated the constitutional rights of Latinos who were stopped and detained as part of a crackdown on illegal immigrants, a federal judge said.
U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow issued a decision today after a trial without a jury that ended Aug. 2.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office "has no authority to detain people based only on reasonable suspicion, or probable cause, without more, that such persons are in this country without authorization," Snow said in an 142-page ruling. "It is not a violation of federal criminal law to be in this country without authorization in and of itself."
The judge forbade the sheriff's office from detaining Latino drivers and passengers only on the suspicion they are illegal immigrants or to use race or Latino ancestry as a reason to stop a vehicle. The sheriff's office was also ordered not to detain Latinos stopped for a traffic violation longer than needed to resolve the violation if there was no reason to believe they broke the law.
'Crime Suppression'
The lawsuit was brought on behalf of all Latinos who, since January 2007, have been stopped, detained, questioned or searched by sheriff office's deputies in Maricopa County. The civil rights case is backed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Chris Hegstrom, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment on the ruling. Tim Casey, a lawyer who represented the sheriff's office at the trial, had no immediate comment.
Arpaio's department covers Arizona's biggest county by population, with 3.8 million residents. His methods, including saturation patrols or "crime suppression" sweeps in predominantly Latino areas in and around Phoenix, have made him a hero to groups seeking a crackdown on illegal entrants to the U.S. and a target of advocates for immigrants' rights.
The allegations in the class-action case are similar to those made by the U.S. Justice Department in a civil lawsuit filed in May of last year against Maricopa County and Arpaio.
The Justice Department's lawsuit accuses the sheriff of "intentionally and systematically" discriminating against Latinos. Arpaio, 80, who has been elected five times and served 20 years in office, said in response to the U.S. lawsuit that President Barack Obama, a Democrat, is going after him to court Latino voters.
SO WHY DO WE HAVE BORDER PATROL THEN!?
ReplyDeletewhy indeed
DeleteUnbelievable..........
ReplyDelete