Sheriff faces long-awaited federal probe

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has slammed its door on a federal investigation into allegations of civil rights violations. But immigrant communities in Arizona have reopened them. Two weeks ago, U.S. Justice Department investigators met with religious and community leaders in Arizona to hear testimony from people impacted by the sheriff's policies outside and within his jails. Complaints of racial profiling in traffic stops, and physical and verbal abuse in the jails have mounted against the sheriff's deputies for the last couple of years. But tensions have escalated since Sheriff Joseph Arpaio signed an agreement with the federal government to enforce immigration laws. The controversial 287(g) program has been used to train 160 deputies in Maricopa County who conduct immigration sweeps in Latino neighborhoods and markets. Last year, under the George W. Bush administration, Phoenix's Mayor Phil Gordon wrote a letter to the Justice Department asking it to initiate an investigation over concerns of racial profiling. In March of this year, under the leadership of a new U.S. attorney general, Eric Holder, the Justice Department launched a probe.