PHOENIX (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department has sued an Arizona sheriff known for his immigration patrols for failing to hand over records in a civil rights investigation.
The lawsuit filed Thursday says Sheriff Joe Arpaio has not cooperated with the department’s probe of alleged discrimination by his office. The Justice Department gave Arpaio until Aug. 17 to hand over documents it first asked for 15 months ago.
It’s the latest action against Arizona by the federal government, which earlier sued to stop the state’s strict new immigration law that requires police officers to question people about their immigration status.
Arpaio believes the inquiry is focused on his immigration sweeps, patrols where deputies flood an area of a city — in some cases heavily Latino areas — to seek out traffic violators and arrest other offenders.
