Federal Judge refuses to certify class action lawsuit against Sheriff Arpaio and his office for alleged racial profiling during saturation patrols.
Phoenix, AZ - The United States District Court in Manuel de Jesus Ortega Melendres vs. Arpaio denied the motion to certify the lawsuit for class action treatment against Sheriff Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
The judge determined that the motion failed to present sufficient evidence of the fact that a real and immediate threat of future constitutional injury from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office exists to bring their lawsuit in the form of a class action.
The Court’s ruling is a major blow to the efforts of proving that Sheriff Arpaio and his office have been racially profiling Latinos during saturation patrols. The ruling also limits the lawsuit to the handful of plaintiffs that filed it as well as whether or not their constitutional rights were violated rather than increasing the scope of the lawsuit to include almost every Latino resident of Maricopa County.
“We follow and enforce the law. This lawsuit was filed by the ACLU and supports political efforts in an attempt to prevent me from doing what I have been charged to do by law. I am pleased that the judge recognized there was insufficient evidence to turn this political lawsuit into class action” Arpaio says.
Sheriff Arpaio stated that his office has arrested and investigated over 31,000 illegal aliens throughout Maricopa County and will continue to enforce all federal and state Illegal immigration laws. Sheriff Arpaio has also vowed to conduct another crime saturation patrol in the very near future.
Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office
