ImmigrationJudge rebukes Sheriff Arpaio, his deputy for mocking, defying court orders

Grant Murray Snow, District Judge for the United States District Court for Arizona, earlier this week rebuked Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County and chief deputy Jerry Sheridan for defying and mocking Snow’s order, issued last year, to stop targeting Latinos during routine patrols, traffics stops and work raids.

“Whether or not the sheriff likes it, there is a distinction in immigration law that was not understood by the population and, with all due respect to you, it is not understood by the sheriff, which is that it is not a criminal violation to be in this country without authorization,” Judge Snow said pointedly.

The New York Times reports that the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is facing a class-action lawsuit on behalf of Latinos who have been or will be stopped by the sheriff’s department, in addition to another lawsuit filed by the Justice Department, claiming civil rights violations, based on what seems to be a systematic pattern of discrimination against Latinos.

Arpaio is known in Arizona for his stance against illegal immigrants. In 2013, Judge Snow ruled that Arpaio and his deputies had systematically targeted Latinos for arrest during raids at temporary work sites, and detaining Latinos for longer periods than other drivers during traffic stops, on the suspicion that the targets were illegal immigrants. Following the ruling, Snow issued several requirements to the sheriff’s office, including the appointment of a monitor to field complaints and oversee compliance.

At Monday’s hearing, Snow said that Arpaio and Sheridan had flouted his order, as evident in a video of an October briefing for rank-file deputies who participated in a crime-suppression operation in southwest Phoenix. In the video, Sheridan called Snow’s order “ludicrous” and “absurd,” comparing the restrictions the court had placed on the sheriff’s department to the restrictions imposed on the New Orleans Police Department, whose officers, according to Sheridan, “were murdering people.”

“That tells you how ludicrous this crap is,” Sheridan said of the judge’s order.

Later in the briefing, Arpaio told his deputies, “what the chief deputy said is what I’ve been saying,” adding, “We don’t racially profile, I don’t care what everybody says.”

In court, Snow asked Sheridan, among other questions, “do you believe you’re in good-faith compliance with the order if in trainings, in briefings, you mischaracterize the order?”In response, Sheridan told the court, “I’m ashamed of the things I said. I mischaracterized your (Snow) order, there is no doubt about that. I had gotten some facts incorrect.”

Tim Casey, an attorney for Arpaio told Snow that the video was recorded shortly after the murder of a sheriff’s department detention officer, to which Snow noted that the instructions in the order had been raised as far back as 2011, when a preliminary injunction in the case was issued.

After the hearing, Arpaio, who remained silent in the court, told reporters, “we’ll be appealing this case anyway. Stay tuned.”

The hearing was an opportunity for Snow to put Arpaio’s violation of court orders on record. Snow noted that further violations may lead to more sanctions against the sheriff’s office.

Despite the allegations and court appearances, Arpaio remains a popular figure in Arizona and hasraised over $3 million for the 2016 election, when he plans to seek a seventh term as sheriff. Arpaio is also considered to be a potential candidate to replace current governor, Jan Brewer, when she leaves office this year.