Taxpayers in the county of Maricopa, Arizona, must pay at least $22 million as a result of the policies of that county's sheriff, Joe Arpaio, the "toughest sheriff in the US", who has been accused of racial discrimination and profiling.
On May 2013, a state court ruled that the Maricopa Sheriff's Department had carried out racial discrimination against Latinos, which unleashed a huge scandal over the alleged practices against the Latino community in Arizona.
A note published recently by RT highlighted that the sheriff's office has continually received complaints over alleged unconstitutional actions such as stopping vehicles driven by African American or Latino people, who were then inspected thoroughly.
Judge Murray Snow's May ruling ordered a monitoring program to supervise re-training of the Sheriff's office, and the creation of a community advising council.
Furthermore, the county of Maricopa must pay $2 million to implement a series of changes derived from the ruling against the local police. This sum must be paid during a year and a half.
Additionally, the county of Maricopa will have to cover another $10 million for personnel and other expenses starting in mid-2015 to fulfill Judge Murray's order, ABC reported.
The measure imposed on the county of Maricopa has been celebrated by defenders of immigrant rights in the US, who consider this sanction to be a victory against the discriminatory practices seen in the state of Arizona, and specifically against Sheriff Arpaio, infamous for his anti-immigrant policies.
"This is the price he must pay to go out and do the fed's job on immigration," said county supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, a long-time critic of Arpaio. Wilcox said that federal agents are the only ones that can apply immigration laws in the state.
For his part, Arpaio told the press that "It was worth the money, and it was worth the effort," referring to his intervention on immigration matters.
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