The county, which includes the city of Phoenix, used to honor Immigration and Customs Enforcement requests to hold inmates past their release date if they were suspected of being undocumented.
That practice has ended Friday.
“We no longer have a legal authority to detain these individuals regardless of their immigration status,” Maricopa’s new sheriff, Paul Penzone, said at a press conference Friday night.
The change, Penzone said, was prompted by the threat of lawsuits being filed over holding inmates past their release dates without an arrest warrant.
Once led by Sheriff Joe Arpaio — the self-proclaimed “America’s Toughest Sheriff” and outspoken critic of undocumented immigration — the agency and Arpaio had become a flashpoint in the country’s debate over immigration.
While in office, Arpaio became one of the most recognizable faces against undocumented immigration, forced inmates in his jails to wear pink underwear and to sleep outdoors in tent cities.
After taking office last month, Penzone said he would be doing away with the pink underwear and tent cities, calling them “stunts” by the previous sheriff.