Another Lawsuit for Arizona: DOJ Sues Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio For Civil Rights Violations

Arizona's Maricopa County Sherriff Joe Arpaio is legendary for his anti immigrant crack downs.

As this America's Voice backgrounder, The Notorious Record of Maricopa County, AZ’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio, makes clear he has gone above and beyond merely enforcing state immigration laws. Now the justice department has taken action.

From the Justice Departments Press Release:

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department filed a lawsuit today against the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), Maricopa County, and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for refusing full cooperation with the department’s investigation of alleged national origin discrimination in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

Title VI prohibits discrimination in programs that receive federal funds, and also requires grant recipients to cooperate with investigations of discrimination by providing access to documents, facilities and staff.  MCSO signed contractual assurance agreements as a condition of receiving federal funds, and promised that it would cooperate with investigations of alleged discrimination.

The department filed today’s lawsuit after exhausting all cooperative measures to gain access to MCSO’s documents and facilities, as part of the department’s investigation of alleged discrimination in MCSO’s police practices and jail operations.  Since March 2009, the department has attempted to secure voluntary compliance with the department’s investigation.  MCSO’s refusal to cooperate with the investigation makes it an extreme outlier and the department is unaware of any other police department or sheriff’s office that has refused to cooperate in the last 30 years.

Sherriff Arpaio's lawsuit comes as some are beginning to question whether the cost of the states immigration crack downs are doing more harm than good.

David R. Francis of the Christian Science Monitor in his article Costs will rein in Arizona's immigration crackdown: Arizona can arrest illegal immigrants now, but then what? Prison and deportation are both too expensive to sustain notes:

Beside the moral, humanitarian, and legal issues surrounding illegal immigrants, their apprehension poses a sizable financial cost. In Arizona, police could arrest them under the new state law, but keeping them in already crowded jails costs roughly $100 a day per person. For 5,000 people, imprisonment costs could add up to $182.5 million a year. That's a hefty charge for a state struggling with a budget deficit of at least $368 million.

Presumably Arizona could save money by handing illegal immigrants over to the federal government for deportation. In fiscal 2008, the US deported 369,221 people. Deportations rose to 389,834 in 2009 under the Obama administration, and are predicted to reach 400,000 this fiscal year.