ACLU Sues Controversial Arizona Sheriff

NEW YORK, Aug 21 (IPS) - The man who boasts he is "America's Toughest Sheriff" - and who is being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department for civil rights violations - this week added another lawsuit to thousands already pending against him.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Arizona are suing the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, Joe Arpaio, and several of his 164 deputies for the illegal arrest and detention of a U.S. citizen and a legal resident. 

The ACLU suit contends that Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) deputies racially profiled the father and son, Julian and Julio Mora, as they drove their pickup truck on a busy public road and illegally arrested and detained them, violating the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law and prohibition on unreasonable seizures. 

Harini Raghupathi, an attorney with the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, told IPS, "The unlawful arrest and detention that Julian and Julio Mora suffered highlights MCSO's pattern of blatant disregard for the fundamental protections of the Fourth Amendment" of the U.S. Constitution. 

That provision bars unlawful searches and seizures without probable cause and a warrant. 

"This country was founded on the freedom of individuals to go about their business without fear of being unlawfully stopped, picked up, or interrogated by the government. Here, we see the Moras were denied this most essential freedom," she said. 

According to the ACLU, Julian Mora was driving to work when, without provocation, an MCSO vehicle cut in front of him forcing him to stop abruptly. MCSO deputies then ordered the father and son out of their vehicle, then frisked and handcuffed them. 

The complaint says, "Although the deputies had no reason to believe that the Moras had broken any law or were in the country unlawfully, they transported the Moras to Handyman Maintenance, Inc. (HMI), where MCSO was conducting a raid that morning. For the next three hours, the Moras were held at HMI, where they were denied food and water and forbidden contact with the outside world. They were not released until they were interrogated." 

It continues: "The ordeal was particularly humiliating for 66-year-old Julian Mora who, due to his diabetic condition, has difficulty controlling his bladder and had an urgent need to use the bathroom. MCSO personnel, however, rejected his repeated requests." 

"Eventually, deputies escorted him outside where he was made to urinate in the parking lot. MCSO personnel later mocked his son Julio when he had to use the bathroom, because he had difficulty going with his hands still cuffed." 

Nineteen-year-old Julio Mora, a U.S. citizen, says, "To this day, I don't know why the officers stopped us out of all the cars on the road. We were treated like criminals and never told why. I was very scared. I never thought something like this would happen to me. Now I know it can happen to anyone, citizens too. I don't think it's fair." 

Civil libertarians say the latest lawsuit is emblematic of anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S. - arguably most intense in states like Arizona that border Mexico - and of mixed signals coming from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), whose Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unit has federal responsibility for enforcing immigration regulations. 

Under the administration of former President Bill Clinton, Congress passed a comprehensive immigration bill in 1996. The legislation contains a little-known section called 278(g), which authorises local law enforcement to engage in raids on businesses believed to have employees who are undocumented, and to arrest and detain those workers.