10/05/2012 - Myclipp
10/05/2012 - Myclipp
10/05/2012 - Myclipp
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The New York Times/ - Politics, Qui, <strong>10</strong> de Maio de <strong>2012</strong><br />
CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL (Civil Rights)<br />
U.S. Suit Says Arizona Sheriff<br />
Discriminated Against Latinos<br />
PHOENIX — A federal lawsuit asserting a “pattern of<br />
unlawful discrimination” by law enforcement officials<br />
here claims that Latinos at the county jail were often<br />
referred to as “stupid” or addressed with a coarse<br />
ethnic slur. It also says that an e-mail circulated among<br />
jail officers contained a photograph of a Chihuahua in<br />
a swimsuit, over the words, “A rare photo of a Mexican<br />
Navy Seal.”On the streets, Latino drivers were five to<br />
nine times more likely than their non-Latino<br />
counterparts to be stopped or searched, the suit<br />
asserts, for appearing disheveled or dirty or if it was<br />
deemed that too many people were in the back seat.<br />
Some were detained because they were said to have<br />
looked nervous or avoided eye contact. The<br />
accusations are among those included in a lawsuit<br />
filed by the Justice Department on Thursday against<br />
Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, who, calling<br />
himself “America’s toughest sheriff,” has waged a<br />
relentless crackdown on illegal immigrants. The<br />
litigation, in an election year, escalates a politically<br />
charged fight over local enforcement of federal<br />
immigration laws and the civil rights of Latinos. The<br />
suit asks a federal judge to issue an order against<br />
discriminatory practices by sheriff’s deputies, and to<br />
require the Sheriff’s Office to eliminate a “pattern or<br />
practice of unlawful conduct.” Sheriff Arpaio is accused<br />
of running an agency where suspicion and grounds for<br />
arrest have been heavily influenced by ethnicity or<br />
poor English skills. In a 32-page complaint, the Justice<br />
Department contends that he and his deputies waged<br />
a campaign against illegal immigration — through<br />
sweeps of homes and workplaces, and in traffic stops<br />
and jail practices — aimed at Latinos, regardless of<br />
status or citizenship. Sheriff Arpaio also sought to<br />
silence his opponents — lawyers, judges and private<br />
citizens — through retaliation, at times filing lawsuits<br />
against them that were later found to be baseless, the<br />
complaint says. “At its core, this is an abuse-of-power<br />
case involving a sheriff and sheriff’s office that<br />
disregarded the Constitution, ignored sound police<br />
practices, compromised public safety, and did not<br />
hesitate to retaliate against his perceived critics,”<br />
Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general at the<br />
Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said at a<br />
news conference here. Sheriff Arpaio has engaged in<br />
an increasingly bitter conflict with the Obama<br />
administration, including questioning the authenticity of<br />
the president’s birth certificate and portraying the civil<br />
rights investigation that preceded the lawsuit as<br />
politicized. In a news conference at his office, Sheriff<br />
Arpaio said he would not allow his office to be "taken<br />
over by some bureaucrats in the federal government."<br />
“I will fight this to the bitter end,” he said. He also said:<br />
“They’re using me for the Latino vote. I hate to say this<br />
is political, but the timing is suspect.” In what was seen<br />
as a pre-emptive move, his office distributed a 17-point<br />
plan on Wednesday that promised to “establish and<br />
maintain specific bias-free law enforcement and<br />
detention” through better policies and training. “We’re<br />
just doing our jobs enforcing illegal immigration laws,”<br />
the sheriff said Thursday. “We’re not racist.” Mr. Perez<br />
said the document validated the lawsuit’s claims and<br />
was “largely an admission” that problems existed, but<br />
came too late to change the Justice Department’s<br />
course of action. Portraying Sheriff Arpaio’s roughly<br />
900 deputies as poorly trained and supervised, the suit<br />
contends that they are far more likely to stop and<br />
search Latinos than non-Latinos. Further, the<br />
complaint asserts, there is a “culture of bias” against<br />
Latinos among the 1,800 officers in the county jail<br />
system. The federal government and Arizona officials<br />
have been feuding on many fronts about immigration<br />
enforcement. State officials contend that the<br />
government has failed to police the southwestern<br />
border, leading to a flood of illegal immigrants who<br />
have strained state services and created other<br />
problems. The Supreme Court is weighing a federal<br />
challenge to a 20<strong>10</strong> Arizona law that requires state law<br />
enforcement officials to determine the immigration<br />
status of people they stop and suspect are in the<br />
United States illegally. But even by Arizona’s strict<br />
standards, Sheriff Arpaio, a media-savvy figure who is<br />
known as Sheriff Joe, has been aggressive. The<br />
Justice Department’s investigation of his policing<br />
practices began during the administration of George<br />
W. Bush but eventually stalled. In December, the<br />
Justice Department released a highly critical report<br />
laying out what it said were violations by Sheriff Arpaio<br />
and his office. The department moved to negotiate a<br />
settlement, but the sheriff refused to acquiesce to its<br />
demand to place an independent monitor in his office,<br />
saying it would give the federal government too much<br />
power over a local law enforcement agency. The<br />
standoff suggests that it may take a trial to resolve the<br />
matter.<br />
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