Taxpayers will wind up paying over quarter billion dollars in Joe Arpaio’s racial profiling case

By JACQUES BILLEAUD
Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — The taxpayer bill for the racial profiling case stemming from former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s immigration crackdowns will reach $273 million by the summer of 2024. County officials on Monday approved a tentative budget that included $38 million in legal and compliance spending for the racial profiling lawsuit during the coming fiscal year. A decade ago, a federal judge concluded the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office had profiled Latinos in Arpaio’s signature traffic patrols that targeted immigrants, leading to massive court-ordered overhauls of both the agency’s traffic operations and its internal affairs department.