The Department of Justice has confirmed it plans to settle with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) over allegations of civil rights abuses. The settlement, which still needs a federal judge’s approval, addresses claims that Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his office targeted undocumented immigrants during work site raids, discriminated against non-English speaking inmates and retaliated when people criticized the sheriff.
Earlier this week, Maricopa County reported it had reached a tentative settlement, but it was not until Friday that all parties signed off on it. According to the DOJ, Arpaio’s office changed many of its practices once litigation began and this agreement puts in place “important safeguards.” But some critics of Arpaio disagree, including Jason Odhner, who was one of those subpoenaed to testify in the DOJ case.
After reviewing the proposed settlement earlier this week, Odhner said, "It seem to me that it doesn’t really demand a lot.”
Odhner was arrested by the sheriff's office for clapping at a county meeting. As part of the agreement, the sheriff’s office must include a paragraph stating it will respect the First Amendment Rights of all individuals. Odhner argues any resolution should at least include "an explicit admission of guilt,” which it does not.
The tentative settlement instructs Arpaio to institute new policies on work site raids and run those by the DOJ before finalizing them. If Arpaio's officers conduct any work site raids in the future, the Civil Rights Division reserves the right to request any information in order to ensure MCSO is following federal law. The sheriff must also put in place a variety of policies to improve its treatment of inmates who speak little or no English. According to the DOJ, inmates will have better access to language assistance services and all announcements will be delivered in Spanish and English.
The settlement would narrow the DOJ's case, but it does not put it to rest entirely. One of the unresolved allegations is that the sheriff used traffic law enforcement to discriminate against Hispanics. Recently, a federal court decided the federal government could bring those charges against MCSO. The DOJ reports the parties are in "ongoing discussions" on that portion of the case, which could still go to court.
This is a separate case from the one brought by the American Civil Liberties Union. In that, the sheriff is still facing contempt of court charges. Arpaio's office had asked the federal judge overseeing the case to be removed because of bias, but that was shot down by the judge.
A hearing in that case is scheduled for Monday.
