DHS ends cooperation deal with Arizona sheriff

The Civil Rights Division of U.S. Justice Department today said a three-year investigation finds that Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office has engaged in a "culture of bias" involving racial profiling and a widespread pattern of discrimination of Latinos.

Update at 8:23 p.m. ET: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio called the report "a sad day for America as a whole."

"We are going to cooperate the best we can. And if they are not happy, I guess they can carry out their threat and go to federal court," he said.

He said that the decision by Homeland Security to sever ties would result in illegal immigrants being released from jail in large numbers and they would go undetected, the Associated Press says.

The sheriff claimed they would be "dumped on a street near you. For that, you can thank the federal government."

Update at 2:50 p.m. ET: In the wake of the Justice Department findings, the Department of Homeland Security has cut off Maricopa County from access to the Secure Communities program and ended an agreement through which the state is allowed to detain individuals in the country illegally after their initial arrest. Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement that DHS is "troubled" by the Justice Department report. "Discrimination undermines law enforcement and erodes the public trust," the statement says. "DHS will not be a party to such practices."

Here is the DHS statement:

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is troubled by the Department of Justice's (DOJ) findings of discriminatory policing practices within the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO). Discrimination undermines law enforcement and erodes the public trust. DHS will not be a party to such practices. Accordingly, and effective immediately, DHS is terminating MCSO's 287(g) jail model agreement and is restricting the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office access to the Secure Communities program. DHS will utilize federal resources for the purpose of identifying and detaining those individuals who meet U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement's (ICE) immigration enforcement priorities. The Department will continue to enforce federal immigration laws in Maricopa County in smart, effective ways that focus our resources on criminal aliens, recent border crossers, repeat and egregious immigration law violators and employers who knowingly hire illegal labor.

Update at 12:44 p.m. ET: The investigation found a number of instances in which "crime suppression activities" were initated on complaints that "described no criminal activity, but rather referred, for instance, to individuals with 'dark skin' congregating in one area, or the individuals speaking Spanish at a local business."

"The use of these types of bias-infected indicators as a basis for conducting enforcement activity contributes to the high number of stops and detentions lacking in legal justification," Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez said in his letter.

Update at 12:42 p.m. ET:

Among the allged civil rights violations:

Hispanics were routinely targeted for traffic stops without reasonable cause, and subsequently charged with immigration-related crimes. Legal residents were sometimes treated as if they were illegal immigrants and even jailed.

Latino inmates with poor or no English proficiency were frequently punished for not understanding English, were required to fill out forms in a language they did not understand or were denied critical services available to English-speaking inmates.

Community activists and critics who spoke out against the Sheriff's Office's treatment of Hispanics were themselves targeted for retaliation.

The Justice Department also found that the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office did not adequately train or supervise its personnel to avoid civil rights violations and, in fact, permitted the specialized units to engage in unconstitutional behavior, The Arizona Republic reports.

The department found three additional areas of concern that require further review. Investigators allege some sheriff's deputies use excessive force against Latinos; the agency's immigration enforcement programs have caused distrust within the Latino community; and that certain types of criminal cases have been improperly investigated.

Update at 12:36 p.m. ET: In his letter, Perez said the department would "prefer to resolve this matter without resort to further litigation, although we will not hesitate to file suit, if necessary."

Update at 12:30 p.m ET: According to Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez's letter to Maricopa County attorney Bill Montgomery, investigators found that the alleged pattern and practice of discriminating against Latinos flows from the top echelons of the sheriff's office and has compromised its ability to provide quality law enforcement to county residents, The Arizona Republic reports.

Investigators believe the sheriff's office followed a pattern or practice of unconstitutional treatment of Hispanics both inside the jails and in traffic stops, especially by the sheriff's human smuggling and work-site enforcement units.

Update at 12:10 p.m. ET: The Justice Department today accused the office of Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio of racial profiling in traffic stops and immigration operations and discriminating against Spanish speakers in the county jails, The Arizona Republic reports.

The Justice Department issued the Maricopa County sheriff an ultimatum -- voluntarily agree to stop the alleged unconstitutional practices or face a lawsuit under provisions of federal Civil Rights Act.

An excerpt from the report:

Based upon our extensive investigation, we find reasonable cause to believe that MCSO [Maricopa County Sheriff's Office] engages in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing. Specifically, we find that MCSO, through the actions of its deputies, supervisory staff, and command staff, engages in racial profiling of Latinos; unlawfully stops, detains, and arrests Latinos; and unlawfully retaliates against individuals who complain about or criticize MCSO's policies or practices, all in violation of Section 14141. MCSO's discriminatory police conduct additionally violates Title VI and its implementing regulations.

We also find reasonable cause to believe that MCSO operates its jails in a manner that discriminates against its limited English proficient ("LEP") Latino inmates. Specifically, we find that MCSO, through the actions of its deputies, detention officers, supervisory staff, and command staff, routinely punishes Latino LEP inmates for failing to understand commands given in English and denies them critical services provided to the other inmates, all in violation of Title VI and its implementing regulations.

The findings were announced at a Phoenix news conference.

Original post: The Justice Department has been investigating allegations of civil rights violations and racial profiling involving the Maricapo County Sheriff's Office for more than three years.

The announcement could mark the end to a probe that has served as a backdrop as Arpaio pursued his controversial attempts at immigration enforcement through crime sweeps and worksite raids, the newspaper says.

The sweeps have in the past led to dozens of sheriff's deputies descending on heavily Latino neighborhoods looking for minor infractions as a way to launch into immigration screenings.

The scope of the sweeps has broadened, however, since federal immigration officials in 2009 took away Arpaio's authority to perform street-level enforcement as part of a federal program.

Arpaio and his administrators have consistently denied that his immigration-enforcement measures target Latino residents.

Both of those immigration-enforcement tactics have generated broad public support along with claims of racial profiling, The Republic reports.