Cecily Zamora
Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was known for his controversial and often discriminatory law enforcement methods, particularly targeting immigrants and US citizens of Mexican ancestry. Arpaio's conduct resulted in criminal contempt charges and numerous lawsuits, with Arizona courts ruling against several of his practices. In 2017, Arpaio was pardoned by President Trump, sparking debate about the commitment to enforcing civil rights laws. This pardon and its implications for the rule of law form the basis for discussing whether Arpaio could be held accountable for any state laws beyond the scope of his pardon.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name | Joe Arpaio |
| Occupation | Former Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona |
| Age | 84 years old |
| Political Affiliation | Republican |
| Notability | Hardline stance on illegal immigration, racial profiling, and controversial law enforcement methods |
| Legal Issues | Criminal contempt-of-court charge for defiance of a judge's order in a racial profiling case, numerous lawsuits and settlements costing taxpayers millions |
| Pardoning | Pardoned by President Trump for criminal contempt conviction |
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What You'll Learn
Joe Arpaio's controversial immigration enforcement methods
Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, gained notoriety for his controversial immigration enforcement methods, which have been described as "illegal-immigration crackdowns." Arpaio's tenure as sheriff, from 1993 to 2017, was marked by a strong stance against illegal immigration, earning him the moniker "America's Toughest Sheriff."
Arpaio's controversial methods included conducting saturation patrols and immigration sweeps in Latino neighborhoods and targeting day laborers and businesses employing Latinos. He was accused of racial profiling and unlawfully detaining individuals based on their immigration status. In 2008, he launched shock-and-awe sweeps, where deputies stopped cars for minor traffic violations and arrested immigrant drivers or passengers without valid identification on suspicion of being undocumented. These operations were criticized as community raids by his detractors.
Arpaio also maintained an immigrant smuggling squad that illegally stopped cars with Latino drivers or passengers to check their immigration status until this practice was halted by a Federal District Court injunction in 2011. He forced undocumented immigrants in custody to live in a segregated "tent city," which he himself referred to as a "concentration camp." Additionally, Arpaio supported Arizona's SB1070 anti-illegal immigrant law, which allowed law enforcement officers to question people about their immigration status, leading to increased racial profiling of Latinos.
The Department of Justice concluded that discrimination against Latino persons existed in a wide range of Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) practices. Arpaio was found to have intentionally violated court orders aimed at ending discriminatory practices within his office. As a result, he was convicted of criminal contempt in July 2017. However, he received a presidential pardon, sparking debates about the commitment to enforcing civil rights laws alongside immigration laws.
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Arpaio's racial discrimination and profiling
Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, has been accused of racial discrimination and profiling. In 2011, the Associated Press found that Arpaio's office ignored hundreds of sex crime cases, including those involving the children of undocumented immigrants. The Justice Department also discovered that Arpaio's office failed "to adequately respond to reports of sexual violence, including allegations of rape, sexual assault, and sexual abuse of girls".
Arpaio has been accused of implementing discriminatory policies, flouting the law, and violating the civil rights of the people he was elected to serve. He has been the subject of several federal civil rights lawsuits, with dozens of civil lawsuits brought against him by citizens arrested by him and his deputies, alleging wrongful arrest, wrongful death, and entrapment. These lawsuits have cost taxpayers in Maricopa County over $140 million.
In 2007, Manuel De Jesus Ortega Melendres, a Mexican tourist, filed a lawsuit against Arpaio, claiming to have been unlawfully detained for nine hours due to racial profiling. The lawsuit expanded when several individuals joined with similar complaints. The plaintiffs were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), and the law firm Covington & Burling. The lawsuit charged that Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) unlawfully instituted a pattern and practice of targeting Latino drivers and passengers in Maricopa County during traffic stops, discriminating on the basis of race in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
In 2011, the Justice Department released their findings after a three-year investigation, concluding that under Arpaio, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office had "a pervasive culture of discriminatory bias against Latinos" that "reaches the highest levels of the agency". The report stated that Arpaio engaged in "unconstitutional policing" by unfairly targeting Latinos for detention and arrest, and retaliating against critics. The Department of Justice concluded that Arpaio oversaw the worst pattern of racial profiling in US history, and subsequently filed a suit against him for unlawful discriminatory police conduct.
In 2017, a federal district court ruled that Arpaio relied on racial profiling and illegal detentions to target Latinos, with the court finding that racial profiling by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office was "pervasive and widespread". Arpaio was convicted of criminal contempt after he deliberately violated a court ruling that ordered his department to end its practice of illegally detaining people based only on suspicions about their immigration status.
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Arpaio's defiance of court orders
Joe Arpaio, the former six-term sheriff of metro Phoenix, was known for his controversial law enforcement methods, which struck fear into the hearts of immigrants and US citizens of Mexican ancestry. Arpaio's conduct was found to be discriminatory by the Department of Justice, with evidence showing that his deputies routinely stopped Latinos at much higher rates than non-Latino individuals.
Arpaio was referred for criminal contempt in August 2016, with the government obtaining a conviction on July 31, 2017. On August 25, 2017, Arpaio was pardoned by President Trump, who stated that Arpaio's sentencing was "set for October 5, 2017." This pardon was seen as a sacrifice of Latino civil rights for the sake of immigration enforcement.
In conclusion, Joe Arpaio's defiance of court orders resulted in a criminal contempt conviction and highlighted a long history of discrimination in Arizona. Despite being ordered to end his discriminatory practices, Arpaio continued to target and profile Latinos, with his conduct ultimately being rebuked by the criminal justice system.
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Arpaio's conviction for criminal contempt
Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was found guilty of criminal contempt of court in July 2017. The conviction was the result of Arpaio's intentional violation of multiple court orders that aimed to end the discriminatory practices of the Sheriff's Office. Despite being instructed by the courts to end the discrimination, Arpaio continued to enforce his hard-line immigration platform, which included detaining individuals without state charges and forcing undocumented immigrants in custody to live in a segregated "tent city". Arpaio's own words were central to the case against him, with his quotes cited more than 20 times in the federal judge's ruling.
The sentencing phase for Arpaio's conviction was scheduled to begin on October 5, 2017. However, on August 25, 2017, President Donald Trump pardoned Arpaio for his conviction, sparking controversy. Trump's pardon spared Arpaio from any punishment, but it did not revise the historical facts of the case. Arpaio's defence attorneys filed a motion to vacate his conviction, but it was denied by District Judge Susan R. Bolton, who emphasised the validity of the court's findings.
The pardon of Arpaio by President Trump has been a subject of debate, with some viewing it as a political decision that prioritises immigration enforcement over civil rights laws. The Ninth Circuit appointed a special prosecutor after the government announced it would not defend the district court's order denying Arpaio's motion to vacate the criminal contempt conviction. The special prosecutor was tasked with providing briefs and presenting oral arguments to the merits panel.
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Arpaio's pardon by President Trump
On August 25, 2017, President Donald Trump pardoned Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, for criminal contempt of court, a misdemeanour. Arpaio had been convicted of the crime two months earlier for disobeying a federal judge's order to stop racial profiling in detaining "individuals suspected of being in the U.S. illegally". Arpaio's office was found to have been racial profiling Latinos and was ordered to stop. Arpaio was found to have violated the court order, resulting in a finding of criminal contempt against him.
The pardon covered Arpaio's conviction and any other relevant charges that might arise in connection with Melendres v. Arpaio. The official White House statement announcing the grant of clemency described Arpaio as a worthy candidate who had served the nation for more than fifty years, "protecting the public from the scourges of crime and illegal immigration."
The pardon was controversial and received mixed reviews. Several experts on authoritarianism described the pardon as illiberal and said that it undermined the rule-of-law. According to The New York Times, legal experts found the fact that Trump used his constitutional power to block a federal judge's effort to enforce the Constitution to be the "most troubling aspect of the pardon". The pardon was also denounced by activists as a slap in the face of those affected by Arpaio's racially motivated policies.
However, there were also those who praised the pardon, such as Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, who credited Arpaio with helping to reduce crime over a long career. The precedent for a presidential pardon in a criminal contempt case also stretches back centuries, according to Frank Bowman, an emeritus professor of criminal and constitutional law at the University of Missouri School of Law.
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Frequently asked questions
The former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was convicted of criminal contempt in July 2017. However, he was pardoned by the then-president in August 2017 before sentencing.
Arpaio was accused of racial discrimination, particularly against Latinos. He was also criticised for his treatment of inmates, including making them wear pink underwear and housing them in tents outdoors during the hot Arizona summers.
Arpaio's actions resulted in numerous lawsuits, with taxpayers footing the bill. The overall legal costs have been reported to be as high as $100 million, including attorney fees, settlements, and other costs.
