WASHINGTON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The Obama
administration accused a firebrand Arizona sheriff on Thursday
of engaging in racial profiling of Latinos and making unlawful
arrests in a crack down on illegal immigrants.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office -- led by Joe Arpaio, a
sheriff famous for making inmates wear pink underwear --
regularly violated U.S. civil rights laws and the Constitution,
the U.S. Justice Department said in a scathing report.
The Obama administration successfully blocked Arizona's anti-immigration law, passed in 2010, which empowered police
officers to check the immigration status of those they stop. The
U.S. Supreme Court agreed this week to hear the state's appeal.
The Justice report released on Thursday also revealed
evidence that deputies used excessive force, failed to protect
the Hispanic community adequately and tried to harass or
intimidate activists who protested their tactics.
The Justice Department said Arpaio's deputies regularly
targeted dark-skinned people for traffic stops or for speaking
Spanish at a local business. Additionally, they conducted raids
aimed at sweeping up illegal immigrants.
"We found discriminatory policing that was deeply rooted in
the culture of the department," Thomas Perez, head of the civil
rights division at Justice, told reporters. He cited a "penchant
for retaliation for people who speak out against them."
Among the reforms sought, U.S. officials want the sheriff to
institute new training, to develop a complaint and disciplinary
system, and to engage in outreach to the Latino community.
Perez said a criminal investigation into the sheriff's
office was ongoing and declined to elaborate.
The Justice Department report also went directly after
Arpaio, saying his "own actions have helped nurture MCSO's
culture of bias."
Arpaio has denied charges by Hispanic and civil rights
activists that his department engages in racial profiling. The
state has been particularly affected by an influx at the border
of illegal immigrants from Mexico and beyond.
The sheriff's Deputy Chief Jack MacIntyre said the Justice
Department announcement smacked of politics with Perez holding a
news conference in Arizona shortly after meeting attorneys.
Arpaio is due to hold a news conference later on Thursday.
JAN. 4 DEADLINE
The Justice Department gave Maricopa County a Jan. 4
deadline to agree to negotiations to address the problems and
warned that if it balked, the government would go to court to
try to compel compliance.
Perez said a criminal investigation into the sheriff's
office was ongoing and declined to elaborate.
The Justice Department said officials discovered that Latino
drivers were four times to nine times more likely to be stopped
than non-Latinos. Over a three-year period one-fifth of traffic
stops violated the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment
protecting against unreasonable seizures, it said.
Political divisions run deep over the country's estimated 11
million illegal immigrants, especially in states such as Arizona
that border Mexico.
Perez said the actions by the police force had created a
"wall of distrust" between them and the community which made it
harder for residents to come forward to report crimes or raise
concerns.
The federal government is also examining allegations that
Arpaio's deputies failed to adequately investigate sexual
assaults - a concern raised last week by the state's two U.S.
senators.
Arpaio's office has admitted that more than 400 cases of
sexual assault and child molestation were not properly
investigated between 2005 and 2007.
(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky; Additional reporting by
David Schwartz)
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