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Former MCSO Sheriff Joe Arpaio's immigration patrols to cost public $200M

Sheriff Joe Arpaio
Posted at 4:43 PM, May 17, 2021
and last updated 2021-05-17 19:49:06-04

PHOENIX — The costs to taxpayers from a racial profiling lawsuit stemming from former Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s immigration patrols a decade ago in metro Phoenix are expected to reach $202 million by summer 2022.

Officials approved a tentative county budget Monday that provides $31 million for the cost of complying with court orders in the fiscal year that begins on July 1.

No one in the county government can say exactly when those costs will start to decline.

Taxpayers in Maricopa County are on the hook for the costs after a 2013 verdict concluded Arpaio’s officers had profiled Latinos in traffic patrols that targeted immigrants.