The U.S. Justice Department
sued Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Thursday, saying the Arizona lawman refused for more than a year to turn over records in an investigation into allegations his department discriminates against Hispanics.

The lawsuit calls Arpaio and his office's defiance "unprecedented," and said the federal government has been trying since March 2009 to get officials to comply with its probe of alleged discrimination, unconstitutional searches and seizures, and having English-only policies in his jails that discriminate against people with limited English skills.

Arpaio had been given until Aug. 17 to hand over documents it first asked for 15 months ago.

Arpaio's attorney, Robert Driscoll, declined immediate comment on the lawsuit, saying he had just received it and hadn't yet conferred with his client.

Arpaio's office had said it has fully cooperated in the jail inquiry but won't hand over additional documents into the examination of the alleged unconstitutional searches because federal authorities haven't said exactly what they were investigating.

It's the latest action against Arizona by the federal government, which earlier sued the state to stop its strict new immigration law that requires police officers to question people about their immigration status.

"The actions of the sheriff's office are unprecedented," said Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the department's civil rights division. "It is unfortunate that the department was forced to resort to litigation to gain access to public documents and facilities."

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix and names Arpaio, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and the county.

Arizona's new law -- most of which a federal judge has put on hold -- mirrors many of the policies Arpaio has put into place in the greater Phoenix area, where he set up a hot line for the public to report immigration violations, conducts crime and immigration sweeps in heavily Latino neighborhoods and frequently raids workplaces for people in the U.S. illegally.

Arpaio believes the inquiry is focused on his immigration sweeps, patrols where deputies flood an area of a city -- in some cases heavily Latino areas -- to seek out traffic violators and arrest other offenders.

Critics say his deputies pull people over for minor traffic infractions because of the color of their skin so they can ask them for their proof of citizenship.

Arpaio denies allegations of racial profiling, saying people are stopped if deputies have probable cause to believe they've committed crimes and that it's only afterward that deputies find many of them are illegal immigrants.

The sheriff's office has said half of the 1,032 people arrested in the sweeps have been illegal immigrants.

Last year, the federal government stripped Arpaio of his special power to enforce federal immigration law. The sheriff continued his sweeps through the enforcement of state immigration laws.

Last year, the nearly $113 million that the county received from the federal government accounted for about 5 percent of the county's $2 billion budget. Arpaio's office said it receives $3 million to $4 million each year in federal funds.

In a separate investigation, a federal grand jury in Phoenix is examining allegations that Arpaio has abused his powers with actions such as intimidating county workers by showing up at their homes at nights and on weekends.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/09/02/justice-dept-sues-arizona-sheriff-civil-rights-probe/

Another politically motivated assasination by Obama and his goons.

What's a matter? He making you look bad by catching and deporting more illegals in his county in Arizona then the Federal Government does across the country?

Looks like he might have violated some civil rights...go figure

oh yes I forgot people in the US are guilty until proven innocent.........yeah that's the way it should....guess they couldn"t prove anything from the documents.........guess they want him to manfacture some

Well it makes sense that he violated civil rights since Arizonians believed that their law that VIOLATED CIVIL RIGHTS was OKAY AND SHOULD BE DONE ANYWAY.



He will have his day in court and that will hopefully resolve it.

You don't have civil rights unless you are a citizen, remember......and I think they should have been able to have that law or did you forget that? You cant just move here and claim civil liberties without proving you are a "citizen". And everyone should have to prove it these days!!!!

They wont get him on anything. They have been trying for years, and nothing is ever proven.

ALL HUMANS HAVE CIVIL RIGHT SILLY RABBIT!

Wrong, all humans have HUMAN rights...but not CIVIL rights, as in civil rights of U.S. citizens.

Wrong.

Tell you what you go into another country in South America and see how many civil rights you have a female and then come tell me I'm wrong.......

In America humans have civil rights so it is irrelevant elsewhere.

actually civil rights is defined legally as

Personal liberties that belong to an individual, owing to his or her status as a citizen or resident of a particular country or community.

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Civil+Rights

human rights

Basic rights that fundamentally and inherently belong to each individual.

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Human+Rights

First off the people filing against the sheriff are legally here just so we have that straight.

Second, we give people who are not here legally civil rights no matter what the definition says.

If we didn't they wouldn't be able to legally assemble as they have. They wouldn't be able to have their day in court as they have.
Etc...

Powers given to enforce the act were initially weak, but were supplemented during later years. Congress asserted its authority to legislate under several different parts of the United States Constitution, principally its power to regulate interstate commerce under Article One (section 8), its duty to guarantee all citizens equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment and its duty to protect voting rights under the Fifteenth Amendment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964

for those people that can't understand that civil rights are for CITIZENS....

this sheriff is a hero.. and they treat him like this... obama is such a loser

He hasn't committed any crimes, of course they wont get him on anything. Someone should put up a online defense fund for him.

He has more training then any of the Federal Agent's out there. The guy is a decorated veteran of the military and a decorated police officer and Federal Agent long before becoming Sheriff in AZ.

If the sheriff thought that the law they were trying to pass was a good thing, chances will be that he will have violated civil rights because that law was going to.

As a very good friend of mine(who is a cop says) It's illegal to be illegal.

So.