Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller overstepped his authority by entering a partnership with federal immigration authorities, a Maricopa County Superior Court Judge ruled Friday.
Miller entered his office in a 287(g) agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement last year without informing the Pinal County Board of Supervisors. The agreement allowed county prosecutors to participate to a certain degree in enforcing immigration laws.
The board subsequently sued Miller, arguing his office doesn’t have the authority to enter that kind of agreement. Typically, it’s county sheriffs who enter into 287(g) agreements.
“Those are sheriff duties, they're not county attorney investigator duties. That’s the bottom line,” attorney Brett Johnson, representing the supervisors, told Judge Michael Gordon.
Gordon agreed and issued a swift ruling from the bench, noting that he wants to retire later this month.
“The county attorney has exceeded his authority and is intruding upon authorities authorized and provided to the sheriff,” Gordon said.
An attorney for Miller tried arguing that the county attorney and Board of Supervisors are all elected officials who operate independently and don’t have authority over one another, and that the county attorney’s office has the capacity to enforce the law to a similar extent that the state attorney general does.
Attorney Linley Wilson also said the supervisor’s purview is over financial issues and that the 287(g) agreement is not the same as a contract, which has to go through a certain approval process.
Furthermore, Wilson said ending the 287(g) agreement would make it illegal for the county attorney’s office to share information with ICE, which is what they say the office is doing under that agreement.
“There have been no arrests or detentions by the Pinal County Attorney’s Office to date,” Wilson said.
Gordon found that the 287(g) agreement is no different from a contract, rejected Miller’s request to dismiss the case and permanently enjoined Miller’s office from engaging in the scope of work that’s set forth in the 287(g) agreement.
Miller’s attorney requested a stay of the ruling, which Gordon said he’ll address later.
Miller’s office said in a statement that he’s “strongly considering an appeal."
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