A federal judge declined to end court supervision of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, ruling the county has not shown reforms stemming from Joe Arpaio’s immigration crackdowns will endure without outside oversight.
U.S. District Judge Murray Snow rejected the county’s request Thursday, finding it failed to demonstrate that the court’s objectives had been achieved or that a “durable remedy” would prevent renewed constitutional violations, The Associated Press reported.
Snow questioned the sheriff’s office’s traffic-stop studies because they excluded the longest encounters, including stops involving language barriers and suspected impaired drivers. Those exclusions covered at least half the agency’s stops in 2024 and 2025. A plaintiffs’ expert who analyzed all 2023 and 2024 data found stops involving Hispanic drivers lasted 4.7 minutes longer than those involving white drivers on average.
County officials argued Arpaio-era immigration patrols are gone, racial bias no longer shapes operations and the department has changed. The Justice Department supported ending supervision. Sheriff Jerry Sheridan’s office said durable remedies are in place for violations from “19 years and three administrations ago.”
The oversight arose from a 2007 class-action lawsuit challenging large-scale immigration patrols conducted between 2008 and 2011. Snow ruled in 2013 that the sheriff’s office had racially profiled Latino drivers and later ordered extensive changes to traffic enforcement and internal-affairs practices.
Maricopa County says litigation, reforms and oversight have cost more than $330 million, though a court-ordered audit disputed how much spending was properly connected to the case. Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chair Kate Brophy McGee and Vice Chair Debbie Lesko said the county plans to appeal.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona welcomed the ruling. Snow directed both sides to identify requirements that may no longer be necessary, leaving open the possibility of narrowing the orders while broader supervision continues.
