“I think the mayor is disconnected from the people he represents, and he doesn’t get the point,” Sheriff Arpaio said Saturday. “Now he’s going to Washington to confuse the issue and try to get the public against me.”

Mr. Gordon “is degrading my office and my deputies by insinuating that they’re violating all these civil laws,” the sheriff said. “We don’t profile.”

At issue are Arpaio's "saturation patrols."

In the past month, sheriff’s deputies and trained volunteers have gone into neighborhoods with large Hispanic populations, stopping people for routine traffic violations and asking some of them about their immigration status. Dozens of illegal immigrants have been detained.

ICE seems to think Arpaio is not breaking the law. Others disagree.

Last week, the Arizona Ecumenical Council and American Jewish Committee issued a joint letter saying the patrols “evoked a ‘police state’ atmosphere” and led to “detainment on the basis of a racial profile and dehumanization of innocent people.”

They were joined Friday by the Arizona chapter of the Anti-Defamation League, which echoed calls for a Justice Department investigation.