The acting chief of the Public Integrity Section of the Justice Department has written a letter to the lawyer for Joe Arpaio, the controversial Arizona sheriff, chastising the attorney for dumping a huge volume of documents on the section and mischaracterizing of the DOJ’s actions at a subsequent news conference.

Robert Driscoll (Alston + Bird).

Acting Chief Raymond Hulser wrote a letter to Robert N. Driscoll, a lawyer with Alston & Bird LLP, expressing his dismay that Driscoll’s “mere referral of information to the Public Integrity Section was cited and relied upon in a pleading in federal court and then used as a platform for a press conference.”

That press conference gave the impression that there was an ongoing probe of Arpaio’s adversaries at the Justice Department. Driscoll is a former Justice Department official in the administration of President George W. Bush.

Hulser’s letter, embedded below, was first reported by The Arizona Republic.

At a press conference announcing the voluntary dismissal of their lawsuit against county officials, Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas said that federal racketeering lawsuit against county officials, Superior Court judges and private attorneys was “moot” because it had been referred to the Justice Department. They had “alleged that judges and county officials had conspired to take resources from the Sheriff’s and County Attorney’s offices and hindered prosecutions” according to The Arizona Republic.

The press conference left the impression that Driscoll, who served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division from 2001 to 2003, “had used his connections to get a review of investigative files on the judges, attorneys, county supervisors and the Attorney General’s Office,” according to the Arizona Republic story.

The letter, however, made clear that just because the Justice Department was willing to receive information “does not indicate that we have initiated an investigation or that we have agreed to take any action,” wrote Hulser.

“I indicated that we are always willing to receive information about potential federal criminal violations, and that you should provide your information in writing,” wrote Hulser.

Reached by Main Justice on Monday, Driscoll declined to comment on the letter.

A separate Civil Rights Division investigation into Arpaio remains open and ongoing, according to spokesman Alejandro Miyar.

0313joe Arpaio Attorney Letter

Joe Arpaio (Gov)

A federal grand jury will decide whether to indict Maricopa County, Ariz. Sheriff Joe Arpaio next Wednesday, reports The Associated Press. Arpaio has been under investigation by both the FBI and the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department for allegations of abuse of power and discrimination, respectively.

The Phoenix Business Journal reported that the grand jury will look at the abuse of power allegations against Arpaio and the sheriff’s office. The allegations of discrimination and are part of a separate investigation, and if the Civil Rights Division decides to pursue a case, it would be filed in civil court.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Phoenix declined to comment, writes the Phoenix Business Journal.

We reported in December that the Justice Department set up a telephone tip-line as part of its probe of the sheriff. Arpaio, the self-proclaimed “America’s toughest sheriff,� has gained notoriety for ordering his deputies to descend on Latino neighborhoods to arrest illegal immigrants. His deputies have arrested thousands of undocumented aliens during these roundups.

The federal case being investigated by the FBI, however, revolved around accusations that Arpaio retaliated against anyone who criticized him or his policies on illegal immigration.

One former Arizona U.S. Attorney fired during the 2006 purge is representing one of the targets of the state’s controversial sheriff. Ex-U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton’s client, Maricopa County, Ariz., supervisor Don Stapley, a Republican, has been arrested twice by deputies of Arpaio. Stapley has been a major critic of the sheriff’s tough stance on illegal immigration. Other Arpaio opponents who he is accused of retaliating against include Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, ex-New Times staffer John Dougherty, Village Voice Media Executive Editor Michael Lacey, VVM CEO Jim Larkin, wrote the New Times blog back in October.

A local CBS news station in Arizona did a yearlong investigation of  Arpaio, which can be viewed below. It features David Iglesias, another Republican former U.S. Attorney for Arizona who was fired by the Bush administration during what an Inspector General report concluded was a politically motivated campaign. Iglesias says he couldn’t believe what Arpaio is accused of doing could happen in the United States.

Andrew Ramonas contributed to this report.

Criminal prosecutions since 1989. (Courtesy of TRAC)

Federal prosecutions soared in the 2009 fiscal year, reaching a record high of 169,612.

The 9 percent increase over the previous year was driven by cases filed against immigration violators, according to Justice Department data analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. Immigration prosecutions shot up 15.7 percent, and amounted to more than half of all criminal cases brought by the federal government.

Meanwhile, drug, weapons and white-collar cases were up only slightly or declined.

Experts told The New York Times the jump stems from efforts during the Bush administration to step up immigration enforcement and expedite prosecutions. In addition to increasing the number of Border Patrol agents, the Bush administration launched Operation Streamline, which promoted mass processing of plea deals in immigrant cases. The Obama administration has continued the policy. The Obama administration was in power for more than two-thirds of fiscal 2009.

Immigration cases are disposed of in an average of two days, and they are rarely turned down by prosecutors. White-collar cases typically linger for about 460 days, and prosecutors reject about half those referred to them by law enforcement agencies.

In Arizona, where nearly a quarter of the immigration cases were processed, Operation Streamline has run into trouble. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which has jurisdiction over the state, recently held that the process of mass pleadings violates the federal rule that shields defendants from being coerced into a guilty plea, according to the Times.

Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke, who was confirmed by the Senate in September, has said border enforcement is a top priority.

Arizona is also home to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose tough enforcement of immigration laws have led to the arrest of thousands of illegal immigrants. He has been accused of unfairly targeting Latinos in his crime sweeps, traffic stops and immigration raids. Arpaio denies wrongdoing, saying his officers are simply enforcing the law.

The Justice Department has set up a telephone tip-line as part an investigation of Arpaio, known as “Sheriff Joe.”

Click here for the full NYT story, and click here for a summary of TRAC’s findings.

A former Arizona U.S. Attorney fired during the 2006 purge is representing a target of the state’s controversial sheriff, the Los Angeles Times reported on Friday.

Paul Charlton (Gallagher & Kennedy)

Ex-U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton’s client, Maricopa County, Ariz., supervisor Don Stapley, a Republican, has been arrested twice by deputies of the county’s sheriff, Joe Arpaio, according to the L.A. Times. Stapley has been a major critic of the sheriff’s tough stance on illegal immigration, the newspaper said.

The county supervisor was first arrested last December on charges stemming from an alleged failure to properly disclose business activities in an economic interest disclosure, according to the L.A. Times. Prosecutors dropped the case against him in September, the newspaper said.

Within days of the case dismissal, Arpaio deputies arrested Stapley again, according to the L.A. Times. This month, Stapley was charged with mishandling funds he raised to run for president of the National Association of Counties, the newspaper said.

Joe Arpaio (Gov)

“It’s just extraordinary, the kind of thing that takes place in Third World dictatorships,” Charlton told the L.A. Times.

The ex-U.S. Attorney, who is a shareholder at Phoenix law firm Gallagher & Kennedy, told the newspaper that he expected the most recent charges filed against his client would also be thrown out. “So many people are of one mind on a single issue — illegal immigration — that they are willing to ignore these misdeeds.”

Arpaio, who has strong support among county voters, dismissed the claims, according to the L.A. Times.

“We don’t abuse our power,” Arpaio told the newspaper. “We do what we have to do.”

We reported last week that the Justice Department set up a telephone tip-line as part of its probe of the sheriff. Arpaio, the self-proclaimed “America’s toughest sheriff,” has gained notoriety for ordering his deputies to descend on Latino neighborhoods to arrest illegal immigrants. His deputies have arrested thousands of undocumented aliens during these roundups.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio (government photo)

The Justice Department has set up a telephone tip-line as part of its investigation of Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio. As of 1:35 p.m. Wednesday, the mailbox was full.

The tip line, first reported on Tuesday by the Phoenix Business Journal, is in both English and Spanish and asks those with information about the sheriff department’s treatment of Latinos to leave their names and numbers.

Arpaio, who has gained fame as “Sheriff Joe” for his tough enforcement of immigration laws and the arrest of thousands of illegal immigrants, has been accused of unfairly targeting Latinos in his crime sweeps, traffic stops and immigration raids. Arpaio denies wrongdoing, saying his officers are simply enforcing the law. He accused Civil Rights Division attorneys investigating him as posing as reporters at a press conference in October.

Justice Department spokesman Alejandro Miyar told the Phoenix Business Journal that the tip line is part of the federal civil rights inquiry and that the department also is using 800 numbers for other investigations.

The new U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, Dennis Burke, who was confirmed by the Senate in September,  has said border enforcement is a top priority.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio (government photo)

Joe Arpaio, who bills himself as “America’s Toughest Sheriff,” accused Department of Justice officials of posing as reporters and trying to sneak into his recent closed news conference, according to an article on AZCentral.com.

In March, the Civil Rights Division notified Arpaio it was conducting an investigation into whether his deputies had engaged in “patterns or practices of discriminatory police practices and unconstitutional searches and seizures,” according to the Arizona Republic. The investigation stems from allegations that Arpaio’s officers were illegally profiling Latino motorists to find illegal immigrants.

A deputy chief said that he was checking IDs at the door when a woman tried to “blow past” him. She later identified herself as a DOJ official, according to the deputy chief, who told AZCentral that there were at least four and as many as six DOJ officials in attendance. The news conference was held in a cordoned off area due to security concerns and was not open to the public, according to Brian Lee, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office.

Civil Rights Division officials said they did have observers at the event, but they never identified themselves as members of the media. Justice Department spokesman Alejandro Miyar said in a statement to the Arizona Republic:

“They identified themselves as Justice Department personnel when asked by a Sheriff’s Deputy. They left promptly when told the event was closed to the public.”

Bob Driscoll, the lawyer representing Arpaio, told AZCentral that he “is concerned that a sheriff’s official could have unwittingly given an interview to ‘a DOJ official with a notepad looking for all the world as a reporter’.” Driscoll says he will file a complaint.

The Phoenix Business Journalalso reported that Arpaio “conducted yet another immigration sweep this weekend despite no longer having such powers from the federal government.” The Department of Homeland security changed its agreement with Arpaio to revoke his ability to make immigration arrests on the field.

The New Yorker has a fascinating profile on Joe Arpaio here (subscription required).

Abstract below:

Arpaio is known as “America’s Toughest Sheriff.� He even wrote (or caused to have written) a book with that title, as well as a second one, published last year, “Joe’s Law: America’s Toughest Sheriff Takes On Illegal Immigration, Drugs, and Everything Else That Threatens America.� Maricopa County includes Phoenix, covers more than nine thousand square miles, and has a population of nearly four million. Joe Arpaio has been sheriff there since 1993. He has four thousand employees, three thousand volunteer posse members, and an overworked media-relations staff of five. Like most sheriffs in America, he is elected. Tells about Arpaio’s background in law enforcement. The biggest part of the sheriff’s job is running the jails and Arpaio saw that there was political gold to be spun there. In 1993, vowing that no troublemakers would be released on his watch because of overcrowding, he created the Tent City jail. His popularity grew. He banned cigarettes from his jails. Skin magazines. Movies. Coffee. Salt and pepper. He put inmates in black-and-white striped uniforms and created chain gangs. Later, he decreed that all his inmates must wear pink underwear, socks, and flip-flops. Tells about the thousands of lawsuits and legal claims of abuse filed against Arpaio’s department. Last year, the National Commission on Correction Health Care withdrew the health accreditation of Maricopa County’s jails. In March, the U.S. Department of Justice, at the request of members of Congress, launched an investigation into charges of discriminatory conduct by Arpaio’s office. Some politicians, including Phil Gordon, the mayor of Phoenix, have begun to speak out against Arpaio, denouncing him for abuses of power. Describes how Arpaio has transformed the sheriff’s office into a sort of freelance immigration-enforcement agency. A federal program known as 287(g) allows state and local officers to be cross-trained by Homeland Security and work in immigration enforcement. Arpaio’s deputies have conducted extensive raids on Latino towns and neighborhoods. Writer observes Arpaio and his staff working on a press release about the swine flu and is given a tour of the tents, where he interviews inmates. Discusses conflicts between Arpaio and other law-enforcement officials in Maricopa County, including George Gascón, the Mesa chief of police. Writer interviews the families of two undocumented immigrants who were arrested in a raid and discusses Arpaio with Russell Pearce, a state legislator and Mary Rose Wilcox, the only Democrat on the Maricopa County board of supervisors. Describes a recent appearance by Arpaio on “The Colbert Report.�

Dennis Burke was only tapped last week to replace Arizona U.S. Attorney Diane Humetewa, but he is already laying out an agenda for the U.S. Attorney’s office with U.S.-Mexico border issues at the top, The Arizona Capitol Times reported today.

The former co-chief of staff to then-Arizona governor Janet Napolitano has advised the Obama administration on border issues since his old boss took the helm of the Department of Homeland Security Secretary. Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder have said fighting crime on the Southwest border is a top priority.

“There’s clearly been direction provided already by President Obama and Attorney General Holder as to what they want to be doing, and this is an office that is at the center of the issues of border enforcement,� Burke told The Times. “What I hope to do, if confirmed by the Senate, is to ensure that those plans and strategies are being implemented and we’re moving quickly on prosecutions.�

Holder has made a few trips to the Southwest to highlight DOJ efforts to combat border crime. The Attorney General was in Los Angeles this week to announce $8.7 million in grants to help local law enforcement officials fight border crime.

“We are intensifying our efforts to investigate, extradite, prosecute and punish the cartel leaders and their henchmen,” Holder said in prepared remarks Wednesday. ” … The routes these organizations use to traffic their drugs, guns and cash too often include the main streets of our communities – so we have increased our law enforcement presence on the Southwest border and in Mexico.”

Burke said he would accomplish his agenda by tapping into the relationships he has made with Arizona law enforcement officials during his time in state politics, according to The Times. But he will likely have problems working with controversial Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who often butted heads with Napolitano, The Times said.

Arpaio, the self-proclaimed “America’s Toughest Sheriff,” has come under fire for implementing chain gangs, erecting a tent city for inmates and making prisoners wear pink underwear. The Justice Department is also probing him on his hard-line approach to combating illegal immigration, which we reported on here.

“There are ongoing investigations by Justice. Those are going to continue,� Burke told The Times. “It would be too hard to comment on that anyway at this stage because I’m not familiar at all with where the Department of Justice is with that investigation.�

You can read our previous reports on Burke here and here.