Arpaio’s lawyers appeal racial-profiling ruling

Attorneys for an Arizona sheriff are appealing a federal judge’s ruling that the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office racially profiled Latinos in its immigration enforcement.

U.S. District Judge Murray Snow ruled last month that Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office systematically singled out Latinos in its immigration patrols and deputies unreasonably prolonged the detentions of people who were pulled over.

Arapio’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal Friday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

It lists seven specific issues the Sheriff’s Office is challenging in Snow’s May 24 ruling, which came more than eight months after a seven-day, non-jury trial in Phoenix.

Immigrants who were in Arizona’s most populous country illegally accounted for 57 percent of the 1,500 people arrested in the 20 sweeps conducted by MCSO since January 2008.