Arpaio

Nearly five years after Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was first sued over his immigration enforcement policy, the Arizona lawman will finally appear in court to explain himself. That's welcome news given his defiant refusal to date to provide much-needed answers to the serious allegations leveled against him. Beginning Thursday, U.S. District Judge Murray Snow will preside over the civil rights trial that will determine whether Arpaio and his deputies engaged in racial profiling and discriminatory policing.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the darling of conservatives and bane of immigration rights activists, was the apparent target of an explosive device that was intercepted and disabled, Arizona officials said on Friday. The device, which is being examined for clues, also comes after weeks of attacks on police officers and prosecutors. Arpaio, who is also the subject of a recall campaign, has condemned the attacks on fellow elected law enforcement officials. Throughout his 20-year tenure, Arpaio has been no stranger to threats.

A federal grand jury is investigating Joe Arpaio, the Arizona sheriff known for his aggressive stance on illegal immigration, for possible abuses of power in launching investigations of local officials who disagree with him, authorities said Friday. Two Maricopa County officials have been subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury to testify about Arpaio's actions against county officials since they moved to cut his budget in late 2008. Since then Arpaio and County Atty. Andrew Thomas, an ally, have filed criminal charges against two county supervisors, have said dozens of other county workers are under investigation and have filed a federal racketeering lawsuit accusing the entire county political structure of conspiring against them.

America's self-styled toughest sheriff is teaming up with an action star. Steven Seagal will lead a training session about school shootings Saturday at the request of his pal Joe Arpaio - an immigration hardliner and the brazen sheriff of Arizona's most populous county, Maricopa, which includes Phoenix.  Seagal will train Arpaio's volunteer “posse,” which boasts about 3,500 members and tackles an array of issues, Arpaio told the Los...

Arizona's Joe Re "Arpaio critics speak out," Dec. 23 I am angered by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the racist behavior of his deputies in Arizona. For officers to humiliate detained persons by dressing them in pink underwear and serving them discolored meat is immoral. Even worse is the deputy who allegedly ran over another man with his patrol car. This is not unlike the behavior of the men who dragged a black man to death behind their truck in Texas a few years ago. Worse is the fact that GOP presidential candidates sought Arpaio's endorsement.

Eighty demonstrators against Arizona's tough-on-illegal-immigration policies trickled out of jails here Friday, as a local sheriff continued one of his controversial operations that critics contend targets Latinos. The protesters had been arrested Thursday, the day the state's controversial immigration law took effect and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio launched his 17th sweep against illegal immigrants. On Friday, Arpaio announced that three illegal immigrants were arrested in the sweep.

The day after the federal government told Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio that he could no longer use his deputies to round up suspected illegal immigrants on the street, the combative Arizona sheriff did just that. He launched one of his notorious "sweeps," in which his officers descend on heavily Latino neighborhoods, arrest hundreds of people for violations as minor as a busted headlight and ask them whether they are in the country legally. "I wanted to show everybody it didn't make a difference," Arpaio said of the Obama administration's order.

The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday sued a controversial and popular Arizona sheriff, alleging that his department was refusing to cooperate with an investigation into whether it discriminated against Latinos while trying to catch illegal immigrants. The Justice Department said that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was the first local law enforcement official in 30 years to refuse to provide documents in a federal civil rights inquiry. The federal government could withhold $113 million in funding from Maricopa County if Arpaio can't produce records demonstrating that he avoids racial discrimination.

Hundreds of marchers protesting Arizona's hard-line stance against illegal immigration took to the streets Thursday even as the local sheriff launched raids to arrest illegal migrants — vivid signs that the court ruling stopping most of a controversial state law will not quell the furious debate over immigration here. And as expected, the state swiftly appealed the ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton, who on Wednesday temporarily halted key parts of the law one day before they were to take effect.

The U.S. Justice Department told Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio that it would investigate his department over allegations of discrimination and unconstitutional searches and seizures. The Justice Department letter offered no specific allegations. But Arpaio said he thought the investigation was spurred by his department's often controversial efforts to combat illegal immigration in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix. Arpaio has launched crime sweeps in areas with high concentrations of Latinos.

Voters in Arizona's Maricopa County have reelected Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the face of Arizona's controversial immigration enforcement law. With 82% of the county's precincts reporting, the self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff” in America won a sixth term convincingly with 53% of the vote. Arpaio, 80, is best known for vigorously cracking down on illegal immigrants in his county - moves that won him admirers in and outside Arizona but also created a fissure dividing Latinos and law enforcement.

With the U.S. attorney's office deciding not to file criminal charges against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and other current and former members of his department, the Arizona sheriff said Saturday that the office "did a good job" -- and that he would continue to enforce illegal immigration laws. Assistant U.S. Atty. Ann Birmingham Scheel made the announcement in a short news release Friday evening, ending years of inquiry into allegations of financial misdeeds and abuse of power.

The testimony phase of the federal civil rights suit against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has ended and lawyers will be submitting their final written arguments in the next few weeks. Arpaio, who built a national reputation as a fierce opponent of illegal immigration, is being sued by a group of Latinos who allege the sheriff's office discriminated against all Latinos and violated their constitutional rights. They argue that the Arizona sheriff's office had a policy that improperly profiled, detained and held Latinos.

Joe Arpaio  bills himself as a tough-talking lawman, but he turned down the volume in an Arizona court of law this week. The Maricopa County sheriff took the stand in the civil suit alleging that his department violated people's rights by profiling Latinos. Media reports agree that the sheriff, famous for his strident and ferocious verbal attacks on illegal immigrants during numerous television and other media appearances, was far quieter while on the stand Tuesday. Arpaio explained that he was suffering from the flu. “We don't arrest people because of the color of their skin,” Arpaio insisted during testimony throughout the day. Latinos represented by various groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, are suing Arpaio and his office, arguing that Maricopa County officers systematically profile Latinos during law-enforcement sweeps in Latino areas in Phoenix.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is a busy man. On Thursday, the civil trial against the sheriff's department got underway in federal court. Arpaio is being sued for allegedly engaging in racial profiling and discriminatory policing. (He faces similar charges in another civil rights lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice.) A few days before the trial began, Arpaio held a news conference to declare that Barack Obama's birth certificate is fake. The sheriff reached that conclusion after his volunteer posse of investigators traveled to Hawaii to demand a copy of the president's birth certificate.

Nearly five years after Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was first sued over his immigration enforcement policy, the Arizona lawman will finally appear in court to explain himself. That's welcome news given his defiant refusal to date to provide much-needed answers to the serious allegations leveled against him. Beginning Thursday, U.S. District Judge Murray Snow will preside over the civil rights trial that will determine whether Arpaio and his deputies engaged in racial profiling and discriminatory policing.

High noon is approaching for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. A civil trial against the Arizona law enforcement official -- known for his tough stance on illegal immigration -- begins in Phoenix today, with foes accusing him of racial profiling and of illegally discriminating against Latinos.  Groups led by the American Civil Liberties Union are suing Arpaio and the state's most populous county, charging that they targeted Latinos as part of...

Arizona's Sheriff Joe Arpaio says that volunteer investigators working for him have concluded that President Obama's birth certificate is not legitimate. The Maricopa County sheriff made his remarks Tuesday at a news conference, saying: “At the very least, I can tell you this, based on all of the evidence presented and investigated, I cannot in good faith report to you that these documents are authentic.” He added: “My investigators believe that the long-form birth certificate was manufactured electronically and that it did not originate in a paper format as claimed by the White House.” The latest pronouncements are a return to the issue for Arpaio, who is seeking reelection in November.