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The Progressive

NewsWire

A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Vesna Jaksic, ACLU national, (212) 284-7347 or 549-2666; media@aclu.org

ACLU Responds to Justice Department's Lawsuit Against Sheriff Joe Arpaio

WASHINGTON

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced today it would proceed with legal action against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

"By bringing this suit, the Justice Department has taken an important step toward ending the rampant racial profiling and illegal stops by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office," said Cecillia Wang, director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project. "This development adds to the momentum as the ACLU and its partners will be going to trial against Sheriff Arpaio in July. We will put forward evidence we have uncovered over the past three years to prove that MCSO has systematically violated the rights of Latino residents of Maricopa County in the name of immigration enforcement. This kind of unconstitutional racial profiling must stop."

The ACLU and partner organizations filed an amended complaint against Arpaio's office in 2009. The trial is scheduled for July 19.

The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.

(212) 549-2666