By Gina Gomez
Sep 3, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The US Justice department has sued Arizona’s Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio, his department and Maricopa County because the sheriff reportedly refused to hand over the documents regarding their immigration enforcement. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix yesterday. On the other hand Joe Arpaio’s lawyer said that the sheriff and his officials will co-operate with them but will not reveal the details about the immigration enforcement as that is outside the bounds of civil rights law. However, later the sheriff reportedly sent a letter stating that he would no longer co-operate.

Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the civil rights division said that the actions of Joe Arpaio’s office are “unprecedented” and his decision of not responding to the routine document requests was rare. Thomas E. Perez also added that it is unfortunate that the US Justice department was forced to take the case to the court to gain access to public “documents” and “facilities”. However, the sheriff feels that the whole litigation process is made to attract public attention.

Joe Arpaio said the whole legal process is a “camouflage”. A source close to US Justice department has told a reputed media source that the jury in Phoenix are presently investigating if the sheriff has misplaced the federal money and also if Joe Arpaio ’s office was engaged in “discriminatory” practices and “unconstitutional searches”. The lawsuit asks Joe Arpaio’s office to act in accordance to 51 requests for documents and to provide the investigators an access to everything regarding the case. The Justice Department has reportedly also sued to block enforcement of some parts of Arizona’s new immigration law.