PHOENIX — An attorney representing a Mexican visitor is asking a federal judge to block the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department from what he claims is racial profiling by agency deputies trying to enforce federal immigration laws. Louis Moffa Jr. said in papers filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court here that Manuel Ortega Melendres was illegally detained after the vehicle in which he was riding was stopped by deputies.But Moffa wants more than damages for Ortega. He is asking Judge Mary Murguia to force Sheriff Joe Arpaio to shut down his special hot line which people can call to report suspected illegal immigrants. And he wants a court order shutting down what he says is the sheriff's Illegal Immigration and Interdiction unit, which acts on those tips.
Sheriff's Department spokesman Paul Chagolla said the lawsuit is an attempt to stop deputies from enforcing federal laws. "If this attorney from New Jersey thinks he's going to intimidate Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, he's wrong," he said.
Moffa acknowledged U.S. Department of Homeland Security has signed an agreement with Arpaio allowing specially trained deputies to enforce immigration laws. He said, though, that pact permits deputies to detain suspected violators of federal laws only if they are investigating some breach of state or local laws. Instead, Moffa charged that Arpaio has deployed deputies to different communities for the express purpose of looking for illegal immigrants. And he said many Hispanics have been questioned, and some arrested, even though there was no reason to believe they had broken any state laws.
Chagolla denied deputies are acting illegally or in violation of the agreement with the federal government.
Moffa's lawsuit also charges that detaining Ortega violated his right of interstate travel and state constitutional provisions entitling all people here a right to privacy and due process. While Moffa is from New Jersey, he is with the law firm of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, the same firm that filed suit to overturn the state's new employer sanctions law.
AP Version