Court calls Sheriff Joe's policies racial profiling

 ArizonaLatinos staff

 A federal court handed down an injunction Friday against Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff Joe Arpaio, stating their current immigration policy and actions are unconstitutional and constitute racial profiling against Latinos.

 The case, titled Melendres v. Arpaio, was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

 The ACLU represents the plaintiffs, a group of citizens and legal residents who claim they were detained, targeted and/or harassed because of the way they look or their ethnic background.

The ACLU argued that the sheriff’s office set up a dragnet for illegal immigrants, failed to follow established guidelines for anti-discriminatory policing and that citizens and legal residents got caught in the middle.

The injunction was issued Friday in a class action civil rights lawsuit that tested whether Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s controversial crime sweeps violate the constitutional rights of people who look Hispanic.

Arpaio denies racial profiling.

The injunction stated that the plaintiffs are “entitled to injunctive relief necessary to remedy the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment violations caused by MCSO’s past and continuing operations.”

The injunction goes on to state that MCSO is prohibited from:

1. Detaining, holding or arresting Latino occupants of vehicles in Maricopa County based on a reasonable belief, without more, that such persons are in the country without authorization.
2. Following or enforcing its LEAR policy against any Latino occupant of a vehicle in Maricopa County.
3. Using race or Latino ancestry as a factor in determining to stop any vehicle in Maricopa County with a Latino occupant.
4. Using race or Latino ancestry as a factor in making law enforcement decisions with respect to whether any Latino occupant of a vehicle in Maricopa County may be in the country without authorization.
5. Detaining Latino occupants of vehicles stopped for traffic violations for a period longer than reasonably necessary to resolve the traffic violation in the absence of reasonable suspicion that any of them have committed or are committing a violation of federal or state criminal law.
6. Detaining, holding or arresting Latino occupants of a vehicle in Maricopa County for violations of the Arizona Human Smuggling Act without a reasonable basis for believing that, under all the circumstances, the necessary elements of the crime are present.
7. Detaining, arresting or holding persons based on a reasonable suspicion that they are conspiring with their employer to violate the Arizona Employer Sanctions.

You can find a link to the ACLU’s web page on the case here.