A federal judge in the Melendres case heard arguments Friday on whether years of federal oversight have sufficiently transformed the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office or if continued monitoring is needed.
The Melendres lawsuit was filed in 2007. It challenged former Sheriff Joe Arpaio's racial profiling of Latino drivers during immigration enforcement operations.
In 2013, a federal court found that MCSO systemically violated the Constitution. A judge imposed comprehensive reform orders and appointed a federal monitor to ensure compliance.
Now, lawyers representing Maricopa County argue that the Melendres orders should be lifted.
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In a Rule 60 motion, filed in December 2025, the attorneys said MCSO has switched sheriffs several times since Arpaio's immigration sweeps. They added that the agency is in compliance with orders related to non-discriminatory policing and traffic stops.
Maricopa County Supervisor Debbie Lesko, R-District 4, attended the hearing. She said MCSO no longer needs monitoring. "It’s been remedied, Lesko said. "There are policies in place so that the sheriff's office is not discriminating against Latinos, and I think that’s backed up by the fact of what' the monitor report actually is."
Critics say premature termination risks returning to the Arpaio days and civil rights violations.
The ACLU points to MCSO's failure to fully eliminate racial disparities in traffic stops and hundreds of incomplete misconduct investigations.
"The ACLU is arguing that termination of this remedial order at this moment is not appropriate," said ACLU Attorney Jorge Castillo.
The monitor's recent quarterly report, released in June 2026, said the department dropped in overall compliance with the court orders.
The monitoring team also raised concerns about how top leaders, including current sheriff Jerry Sheridan, are handling internal affairs cases.
"It takes systems of support to sustain malpractice or to sustain excellence, and it also takes layers of leadership in order to sustain either one of those two things,” said Raul Pina, a member of the Melendres Community Advisory Board.
While the exact cost of court-order compliance has been disputed, Maricopa County officials contend millions of taxpayer dollars have been diverted from public safety priorities to pay for the monitor.
"As long as you supervised you might behave, but the minute he is not supervised, he’s going to go back to his own ways - that’s the fear our community has," said Salvador Reza, a longtime Hispanic community leader.
"You can’t keep this federal oversight going on for years and years and years worried about something that may or may not happen in the future," Lesko said.
Judge Murray Snow discussed options with both sides, including ending all the Melendres court orders, none of them, or whether both sides would agree to an appropriate partial relief. Snow indicated it may take some time to issue his ruling.
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