PHOENIX, (Reuters) – Veteran Arizona lawman Joe Arpaio, self-described as “America’s toughest sheriff,” denied yesterday that his deputies targeted people because of the color of their skin in a controversial crackdown on illegal immigration.
Arpaio, sheriff of Arizona’s Maricopa County, was testifying in a class-action lawsuit to test whether police can target illegal immigrants without racially profiling Hispanic citizens and legal residents.
“I am against anyone racial profiling … today as in my 50 years in law enforcement,” Arpaio, a veteran lawman who recently turned 80, told the court during cross-examination. Arpaio was also asked about a news release he issued after a sweep targeting illegal immigrants in 2008, in which he noted criticism from former Phoenix mayor Phil Gordon that his agency went after “brown-skinned people with cracked windshields.”
“We do not arrest people because of the color of their skin,” said Arpaio, speaking in a slightly hoarse voice due to a recent case of influenza.
The plaintiffs’ counsel, Stanley Young, asked Arpaio if he believed illegal immigrants entering Maricopa County had certain appearances and whether this included brown skin color. Arpaio replied: “No.”
The sheriff, who is seeking re-election to a sixth term in November, has been a lightning rod for controversy over his aggressive enforcement of immigration laws in the border state with Mexico, as well as his investigation into the validity of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate.
