The Department of Justice report alleging civil rights abuses in the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office had immediate repercussions.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that her department had severed its cooperative agreements with the sheriff’s office. The decision strips Sheriff Joe Arpaio of the ability to enforce federal immigration laws.
With the termination of the agreement, Arpaio’s deputies will now not be able to question jail inmates on their immigration status, a law enforcement process known as 287(g). The announcement also restricted Arpaio’s access to Secure Communities. That’s an initiative that allows local police to share fingerprints with immigration authorities.
At a press conference Thursday, Arpaio warned that removing his powers would lead to a flood of illegal migrants into Arizona.
“Now, with the cancellation of this agreement, illegal criminal offenders arrested and brought into our jails will go undetected and ultimately dumped onto a street near you,” the sheriff said. “For that, you can thank your federal government.”
Lydia Guzman is an activist with the Immigration Rights Coalition in Phoenix. She has protested the sheriff’s immigration sweeps of Phoenix communities since they began, claiming deputies were profiling Hispanics.
“What basically Napolitano has done is prevented Sheriff Joe Arpaio from practcing any immigration policies. He’s not equipped,” Guzman said. “He’s abused this and therefore, they took it away from him.”
Without the two agreements, Arpaio now cannot hold someone on a mere immigration charge for longer than 48 hours. At that point, the sheriff’s office will have to call DHS to take a suspect into custody.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office helped deport more than 26,000 illegal migrants between 2007 and 2010.
