AJC Deplores Shameful Pardon of Sheriff Arpaio

NEW YORK, Aug. 26, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC deplored the presidential pardon of former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio.

"President Trump's pardon of Sheriff Arpaio is shameful," said AJC CEO David Harris. "It undermines our judicial system and, ignoring the rule of law, endorses the egregious maltreatment and racial profiling of individuals in our country. Public humiliation of detainees was an Arpaio specialty."

Arpaio, who served for 24 years as a sheriff in Maricopa County, Arizona, was found guilty last month of criminal contempt for disregarding a 2011 federal judge order demanding that he cease arresting and jailing undocumented, mostly Latino, immigrants. In 2013, a U.S. District Court judge ruled the county's actions to be discriminatory and in violation of the Civil Rights Act.

Arpaio lost reelection last November. The pardon came in advance of the October 5 sentencing of Arpaio.

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SOURCE American Jewish Committee