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(CNN)A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio to be tried on a criminal contempt charge accusing him of disobeying a court order in a racial profiling case.
U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton’s order comes after US District Judge G. Murray Snow asked the U.S. Attorney’s Office to file the criminal contempt charges against Arpaio and several subordinates.
Snow in May found Arpaio and three members of his office to be in civil contempt because they allegedly violated court orders intended to keep the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office from racially profiling Latinos. Snow wrote in August that continued failure to follow the court’s directions, along with false statements and attempts to obstruct further inquiry, now justified filing criminal contempt charges.
Bolton ordered Arpaio’s trial for December 6 in Phoenix, court papers said. Arpaio could face fines and even jail time, if convicted.
His attorney didn’t return immediately return a telephone call or email seeking a comment Tuesday night.
Snow’s December 2011 preliminary injunction, prior to the racial-profiling court case, prohibited Arpaio and the sheriff’s office “from enforcing federal civil immigration law or from detaining persons they believed to be in the country without authorization but against whom they had no state charges,” Bolton wrote.
The sheriff’s office “continued to stop and detain persons based on factors including their race, and frequently delivered such persons to [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] when there were no state charges to bring against them,” the judge said.
In 2007, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office over alleged discriminatory policing and jail practices. The decision in Ortega Melendres, et al v. Arpaio, et al, alleged racial profiling, unlawful traffic stops and illegal detention of Latinos.
Snow’s criminal contempt recommendation stems from that case.
Arpaio’s hard stance on immigration and his aggressive roundup of undocumented immigrants has garnered him national attention, and a conservative following. In 1993, he established an outdoor prison consisting of tents, saying it saved the taxpayers money despite criticism that the conditions were inhumane.
A staunch supporter of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, Arpaio has insisted that President Barack Obama is not a US citizen and that his birth certificate is fraudulent. Arpaio said last month he wasn’t abandoning his ‘birther’ investigation even though Trump said he now believed the President Obama was born in the United States.
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