PHOENIX -- Lawyers in Arizona for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and attorneys from the U.S. Justice Department plan to meet for the first time Monday to try to resolve federal accusations of civil rights violations against the local law enforcement department.
The meeting would come nearly two months after the Justice Department released a scathing Dec. 15 report accusing Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office of racially profiling Latinos, basing immigration enforcement on racially charged citizen complaints and pushing Hispanic jail inmates for speaking Spanish.
Joseph Popolizio, one of the lawyers representing the sheriff's office, wrote in a letter Wednesday to a DOJ official that the meeting was scheduled but it wasn't immediately clear whether it'll be in Washington, Phoenix or somewhere else. Federal officials have said they're willing to negotiate ways to reform the sheriff's office in Arizona's most populous county.
Arpaio has long been known for launching traffic patrols that target illegal immigrants, raiding businesses suspecting of knowingly hiring illegal businesses and pushing the boundaries on what local police can do to crack down on illegal immigration.
He denies the racial profiling allegations and he struck a defiant tone in response to the Justice Department's report, calling it a politically motivated attack by the Obama administration that will make Arizona unsafe by keeping illegal immigrants on the street.
The civil rights allegations have led some Arpaio critics to call for his resignation, including the National Council of La Raza, which held a news conference in Phoenix on Thursday to call for the sheriff to step down.
The organization's president, Janet Murguia, said Arpaio has created a culture of fear among Latinos in the Phoenix area, so much so that many don't report crimes.
"Joe Arpaio likes to call himself America's toughest sheriff, but a tough sheriff fosters a healthy respect for law and order, keeps the peace, and strikes fear into the heart of criminals, not the people he or she has sworn to protect," Murguia said. "It is long past time for America's worst sheriff to go."
Arpaio has said he won't resign and intends to seek a sixth term this year.
Assistant U.S. Attorney General Thomas Perez, who heads the Justice Department's civil rights division, wrote in a Jan. 17 letter to Popolizio that MCSO appeared to be trying to delay a reform meeting by imposing "unworkable preconditions, including a prodigious discovery request containing 106 different demands for information."
Popolizio replied in a Wednesday letter to Perez that the DOJ appeared to be ignoring Arpaio and the sheriff' office's "participation and cooperation with this investigation over the last 16 months."
Popolizio again asked the DOJ "to provide the factual details behind its findings in this investigation" and said federal authorities may have relied on "inaccurate" stories in the media.
Justice officials would like the office to seek training in constitutional policing and dealing with jail inmates with limited English skills, collect data on traffic stops and immigration enforcement, and establish a comprehensive disciplinary system that permits the public to make complaints against officers without fear of retaliation.
The sheriff's office also is facing criticism over more than 400 sex-crimes investigations - including dozens of alleged child molestations - that hadn't been investigated adequately or weren't examined at all over a three-year period ending in 2007.
Arpaio has apologized for the botched cases, reopened 432 sex-crimes investigations and made 19 arrests.
Separate from the civil rights probe, a federal grand jury has been investigating Arpaio's office on criminal abuse-of-power allegations since at least December 2009. That grand jury is examining the investigative work of the sheriff's anti-public corruption squad.
The self-proclaimed toughest sheriff in America has been a national political fixture who has built his reputation on jailing inmates in tents and dressing them in pink underwear, selling himself to voters as unceasingly tough on crime and pushing the bounds of how far local police can go to confront illegal immigration.
TeaPartyPatriot posted at 10:43 am on Thu, Feb 9, 2012.
The writing is on the wall for any fool to see.
A federal judge has thrown out a $1 million discrimination lawsuit filed by Salvadoran native Roxana Orellana Santos against Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins, two deputies and the Board of County Commissioners.
"I'm very pleased," Jenkins said Tuesday, hours after he learned of the move by U.S. District Court Judge Benson Everett Legg. "It's a huge decision."
Legg granted a summary motion by the defendants and ruled that Santos' Fourth Amendment and due process rights were not violated when she was detained Oct. 7, 2008, by sheriff's deputies Jeffrey Openshaw and Kevin Lynch near Evergreen Square on Buckeystown Pike, said Jenkins and Santos' attorneys.
Jose Perez, a lawyer with LatinoJustice PRLDEF who, along with immigrant advocacy group CASA de Maryland, represents Santos in the case, said he respectfully disagreed with the decision.
"We're still reviewing and digesting the court's decision in order to determine what steps, if any, we may take," he said.
Santos' lawyers have said she was eating lunch when the two deputies saw her, stopped their car and questioned her about her immigration status, even though she had broken no laws. Jenkins has said Santos tried to hide from deputies, which prompted a request for her identification. Deputies then learned Santos was wanted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on a deportation warrant, he said.
Perez and Santos' CASA attorneys have said the deputies -- encouraged by a 287(g) agreement between the sheriff's office and ICE that allows local law enforcement to enforce parts of federal immigration law -- overstepped their authority and improperly detained Santos, in part because of her race and ethnicity.
Jenkins reiterated Tuesday his statements that Santos' arrest had nothing to do with the 287(g) program and that the deputies were not discriminating against her.
"I think this has a potential to be a landmark case nationwide," he said.
Other police agencies across the country involved in similar 287(g) agreements were closely watching the outcome of the case, Jenkins said.
Rational Human posted at 1:37 pm on Fri, Feb 3, 2012.
Socialist sociologist professors - is there anything else?- all will tell you that only White people can be racists. Minority people can say or do just about anything they want and never be held accountable for the racist nature of their behavior. Most of them aren't smart enough to even understand what the word really means, but are quick to jump up and down yelling racism every time one of their racist leaders like Al Sharpton calls for them to start jumping up and down yelling racism. This racist administration has also heard the call, and needs to shore up the Hispanic voting base as he is very desperate to win reelection. This is just reelection posturing that will go no where.
Masterrogue666 posted at 7:38 pm on Thu, Feb 2, 2012.
"and strikes fear into the heart of criminals" -- Do ILLEGAL ALIENS fear him? Yes, because they ARE CRIMINALS!!!
By the way, what does "La Raza" mean translated to English? And they have the nerve to call someone else racist? I still remember what was on their website when they were first founded...
samkat posted at 5:59 pm on Thu, Feb 2, 2012.
Of course, you are referring to Obama and his corrupt DOJ.
downtownresident posted at 5:11 pm on Thu, Feb 2, 2012.
Tweedle, Deedle, and Dumb.
How many Millions will this cost the taxpayers.
They should be run out of town.