[JURIST] A federal judge ruled [opinion, PDF] Tuesday that two Arizona identity theft laws used to support Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s [official profile] workplace raids did not have discriminatory purpose and will remain on the books. US District Court Judge David Campbell’s ruling follows a 2014 lawsuit brought by civil-rights group, Puente Arizona [advocacy website], in which they alleged that these laws were meant to target immigrants in the state illegally. Campbell wrote,

To be sure, the Court has concluded that the identity theft statutes were motivated in part by their potential effect on unauthorized aliens. But the Court cannot conclude that this was the Arizona legislature’s only motive. As already discussed, the Court finds ample evidence that [combating] identity theft was another purpose of the statutes, both when they were enacted and when they were later amended.

Campbell did state that state officials cannot use the I-9 process to determine fraud, as it is preempted by federal law.

Arpaio has been in the national spotlight for many years over his controversial maneuvers. Most recently, a federal judge in October ordered Arpaio to be tried on a charge of criminal contempt [JURIST report]. In April 2015 the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the Maricopa County Sherrif’s Office and, specifically, Arpaio, engaged in practices of racial profiling [JURIST report] in conducting traffic stops. Illegal immigration remains at the forefront of political news in the US. In September, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that children facing deportation proceedings [JURIST report] may not file a class action suit to determine whether they are entitled to an attorney as a due process right.