PHOENIX — An Arizona sheriff known for his anti-illegal immigration tactics is appealing a federal judge's ruling that prohibited his deputies from detaining people under the state's immigrant-smuggling law based solely on the suspicion that they're in the country illegally.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's lawyers told U.S. District Judge Murray Snow in a filing Friday that they will appeal the judge's Dec. 23 ruling in a lawsuit alleging that the sheriff's deputies racially profiled Latinos in immigration patrols.
Lawyers pushing the lawsuit on behalf of five Latino clients also won class-action status that lets other Hispanics join the case if they have been detained and questioned by Arpaio's deputies as either a driver or passenger in a vehicle since January 2007.
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