Arizona: Sheriff Arpaio lawsuit will cost $ 200 million

PHOENIX (AP) – Taxpayer costs related to a discrimination lawsuit brought in the wake of police raids against immigrants ordered by former Sheriff Joe Arpaio in the Phoenix metropolitan area a decade ago are expected to reach $ 202 million by mid-December. 2022.

Authorities approved a tentative budget for the county on Monday, which provides $ 31 million to cover the costs of complying with court orders in the fiscal year that begins July 1. No one can say exactly when costs will start to decline as a result of the lawsuit, which was filed 13 years ago.

The increased spending “is enough to make any of us cry as we try to be fiscal stewards of the county’s taxpayers’ money,” said Supervisor Clint Hickman.

Taxpayers in Arizona’s most populous county are having to bear the costs of attorneys and implementing court-ordered police restructurings after a 2013 verdict found Arpaio officers discriminated against Hispanics by detaining them during transit operations in which they were intended to arrest immigrants.

Arpaio was known for adopting a heavy-handed policy against crime in his 24 years as a police chief, which included forcing inmates to wear pink underwear and confining them in tents in the intense desert heat.

The sheriff focused on illegal immigration and was found guilty of criminal contempt for disobeying a court order to suspend his operations against immigrants. Then-President Donald Trump pardoned him after Arpaio was found guilty of a misdemeanor.

The costs to taxpayers are expected to continue until the Maricopa County Police have fully complied with the restructuring of their traffic police and internal affairs operations for three consecutive years.

Although some of the police figures are already at or near 100% compliance, it has been determined that the sheriff’s office is still not fully compliant.

Arpaio said Monday that he does not regret conducting the patrols to detain immigrants, alleging that his measures helped reduce costs for taxpayers that go into providing education and health care for immigrants who are in the United States illegally. .

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