--- title: Donald Trump Has Pardoned Joe Arpaio description: The pardon is sure to inflame critics of Arpaio, who built a national following for his harsh crackdown on immigrants. canonical: https://time.com/4916920/donald-trump-pardons-joe-arpaio/ author: Dan Hirschhorn article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-26T00:19:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T11:12:56.101Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Has Pardoned Joe Arpaio og:description: Arpaio built a national following for his harsh crackdown on immigrants og:url: https://time.com/4916920/donald-trump-pardons-joe-arpaio/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54c3555453eb8fd4/6988d7da0a4a222ae69cf455/joe-arpaio-arizona.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Speaks On Immigration At Rally In Phoenix og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Has Pardoned Joe Arpaio twitter:description: Arpaio built a national following for his harsh crackdown on immigrants twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54c3555453eb8fd4/6988d7da0a4a222ae69cf455/joe-arpaio-arizona.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Has Pardoned Joe Arpaio by [Dan Hirschhorn](/author/dan-hirschhorn/) ## Dan Hirschhorn Aug 26, 2017 12:19 AM CUT  Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio speaks in support of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a Trump campaign rally on August 31, 2016 in Phoenix, Arizona. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio speaks in support of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a Trump campaign rally on August 31, 2016 in Phoenix, Arizona.Ralph Freso—Getty Images by [Dan Hirschhorn](/author/dan-hirschhorn/) ## Dan Hirschhorn Aug 26, 2017 12:19 AM CUT President [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4916871/donald-trump-transgender-military-ban/ "undefined") on Friday granted a pardon to former Maricopa County Sheriff [Joe Arpaio](http://time.com/4906739/president-trump-joe-arpaio-pardon/ "undefined"), the White House said, giving a legal reprieve to a controversial figure beloved by conservative immigration hard-liners but loathed by immigrant rights groups. The pardon is sure to inflame critics of Arpaio, who built a national following for his harsh crackdown on immigrants during his long tenure as a sheriff in Arizona. [Arpaio was convicted](http://time.com/4881251/joe-arpaio-phoenix-arizona/ "undefined") earlier this year of criminal contempt for willfully violating a federal judge’s 2011 order to stop racially profiling in immigration roundups. “Sheriff Joe Arpaio is now eight-five years old, and after more than fifty years of admirable service to our Nation, he is worthy candidate for a Presidential pardon,” the White House said in a statement. There was widespread speculation Trump would announce a pardon for Arpaio during a rally in Phoenix earlier this week. Trump didn’t do so at the time, [but hinted that he still would.](http://time.com/4912056/president-donald-trump-sheriff-joe-arpaio/ "undefined") “I’ll make a prediction: I think he’s going to be just fine,” Trump said of Arpaio then. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4916920/donald-trump-pardons-joe-arpaio/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4916920/donald-trump-pardons-joe-arpaio/"},"headline":"President Trump Has Pardoned Joe Arpaio","datePublished":"2017-08-26T00:19:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T11:12:56.101Z","description":"Arpaio built a national following for his harsh crackdown on immigrants","url":"https://time.com/4916920/donald-trump-pardons-joe-arpaio/","keywords":["White House","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54c3555453eb8fd4/6988d7da0a4a222ae69cf455/joe-arpaio-arizona.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Hirschhorn","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/dan-hirschhorn/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54c3555453eb8fd4/6988d7da0a4a222ae69cf455/joe-arpaio-arizona.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Speaks On Immigration At Rally In Phoenix","caption":"Donald Trump Speaks On Immigration At Rally In Phoenix","creditText":"Ralph Freso—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4916920/donald-trump-pardons-joe-arpaio/","name":"President Trump Has Pardoned Joe Arpaio"}}]}] ```