US President Donald Trump has pardoned controversial former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted last month of criminal contempt for illegally targeting Hispanic immigrants.
In his first act of presidential clemency, Trump pardoned the deeply-divisive 85-year-old who ignored a federal court order that he stop detaining illegal migrants.
"He kept Arizona safe!" Trump tweeted, calling Arpaio a "patriot."
The move earned immediate scorn from Democrats, some Republicans and rights groups, who accused the Republican billionaire of seeking to divide the country -- which is still reeling from Trump's controversial remarks on racial unrest in Charlottesville.
In a statement, the White House said Arpaio -- who made detainees wear pink underwear and housed them in tented desert camps -- had "more than fifty years of admirable service to our nation."
The former sheriff of Maricopa County, who reveled in his reputation as "America's toughest sheriff," had been due to be sentenced in October.
Arpaio tweeted that he was "incredibly grateful" to Trump, and suggested his conviction was "a political witch hunt by holdovers in the Obama justice department!"
According to the White House, as sheriff Arpaio protected "the public from the scourges of crime and illegal immigration."
Arpaio is "a worthy candidate for a presidential pardon," it added.
Trump had hinted that a pardon was coming during a meandering speech in Arizona earlier this week, when he suggested Arpaio was convicted for "doing his job" and predicted that "he's going to be just fine."
The announcement still came as a shock for many.
Republican Arizona Senator John McCain said officers of the law "should always seek to be beyond reproach" in their commitment to fairly enforce the law.
And he noted that Arpaio "was found guilty of criminal contempt" for illegally profiling Latinos living in Arizona "based on their perceived immigration status in violation of a judge's orders."
Trump "has the authority to make this pardon, but doing so at this time undermines his claim for the respect of rule of law as Mr. Arpaio has shown no remorse for his actions," McCain's statement read.
Arizona's other senator, Republican Jeff Flake, wrote on Twitter: "Regarding the Arpaio pardon, I would have preferred that the President honor the judicial process and let it take its course."
The US constitution offers the president almost unlimited pardon powers.
Conservative commentator Bill Kristol suggested the pardon "gets people used" to the idea of presidential pardons as the FBI investigation into the Trump campaign's alleged collusion with Russia deepens.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
