Trump Pardons Joe Arpaio, Sheriff Convicted of Racially Profiling Latino Residents in Arizona

President Trump issues a full pardon to former Maricopa County, Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio on August 25, 2017 — less than a month after a federal judge found Arpaio criminally contemptuous of a court order to stop racially profiling Latino motorists. In 2011, U.S. District Judge Murray Snow issued an injunction ordering Arpaio's department to cease detaining people based solely on suspected immigration status without evidence of a crime. Federal investigators documented that Arpaio's deputies targeted Latino-appearing drivers at rates disproportionate to traffic patterns. Arpaio continued the practice, leading to the contempt conviction in July 2017. Trump announces the pardon on the same evening that Hurricane Harvey is striking Texas — a timing his critics call deliberate news-burial — and frames Arpaio as "a patriot" who "kept Arizona safe." The pardon, granted before sentencing, is the first of Trump's presidency and the first in modern times given before the recipient served any sentence.