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Arpaio's Profiling Costs Taxpayers $21M

January 06, 2014 (1 min read)

"Taxpayers in metropolitan Phoenix are expected to pay out an estimated $21 million over the next year and a half for changes ordered in response to a court ruling that found an Arizona sheriff's office racially profiled Latinos in its regular traffic and immigration patrols.  Maricopa County also would have to pick up an additional $10 million in staff and other costs each year beginning in mid-2015 to comply with the judge's order against Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office.  Immigrant rights advocates say county's costs help rebut the once-popular argument that local police agencies should get involved in immigration enforcement to lower education and health care costs related to illegal immigration because the federal government hasn't adequately protected the nation's southern border.  "That's the price you pay for going out and doing federal immigration work," said county Supervisor and longtime Arpaio critic Mary Rose Wilcox, explaining that it's more prudent to leave immigration enforcement up to federal agents who specialize in and have long been responsible for such work." - AP, Jan. 2, 2014.

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