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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 />

57

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