Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio is appealing a federal judge’s ruling that his office violated the constitutional rights of Latinos who were stopped during saturation patrols.
Lawyers for Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office filed a notice of appeal today in federal court in Phoenix.
U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow in May said that Arpaio, who calls himself “America’s toughest sheriff,” and his deputies had no authority to stop and detain people solely based on the suspicion they were undocumented immigrants.
Arpaio’s department covers Arizona’s biggest county by population, with 3.8 million residents. His methods, including saturation patrols or “crime suppression” sweeps in predominantly Latino areas in and around Phoenix, have made him a hero to groups seeking a crackdown on illegal entrants to the U.S. and a target of advocates for immigrants’ rights.
The case is Melendres v. Arpaio, 07-02513, U.S. District Court, District of Arizona (Phoenix).
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