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Arpaio subpoenas ACORN, says funds misused
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Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio alleged Thursday that a national community activist organization is using federal and state funds to fight his efforts to enforce immigration law.
Arpaio sent subpoenas to the local chapter and national headquarters of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, asking for a wide array of records he says will connect the organization to a racial profiling lawsuit he is challenging in federal court.
That lawsuit was filed by the immigrant advocacy group Somos America and five Latinos, all of whom are U.S. citizens or are in the country legally, according to the suit.
They allege that Arpaio's deputies singled them out because of their skin color and that the agency has a policy, pattern and practice of racially profiling Latinos, especially during "crime suppression sweeps."
ACORN has been under fire recently after secret video revealed employees advising a pair posing as a pimp and prostitute to break tax laws and open a brothel for underaged girls.
The left-leaning group is also under scrutiny for several voter-fraud cases.
ACORN's local office did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
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