Arpaio has refused to hand over the records for 15 months, the Justice Department said.

"The actions of the sheriff's office are unprecedented," Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the department's civil rights division, told The Associated Press.

Illegal searches and discrimination against people with poor English language skills are among the allegations the feds have been investigating since 2009.

The bombastic Arpaio, famous for erecting tent cities to hold the hundreds of people his department picks up in illegal immigration sweeps, refuted the accusations.

"I think this is just a ruse," he said.

He told the Arizona Republic the government knows his department does not racially profile Hispanics and that he was cooperating with the investigation.

"I thought we were really close to getting this resolved," he said, calling the lawsuit harassment.

The Justice Department claims that when Arpaio's office accepted $16.5 million from the government, it agreed to cooperate with civil-rights related investigations.

Arpaio said that of the 1,032 people picked up in raids dating back to March 2009, half were illegal immigrants. The lawsuit is the latest chapter in the federal government's tussle over immigration policy with the state. Add Comments>>