The effort to recall controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio has failed, falling short of the required 335,000 signatures.

Arpaio is the anti-immigration sheriff of Maricopa County Arizona, notorious for its harsh stance on undocumented immigrants. A federal judge ruled recently that Arpaio and his department had engaged in racial profiling and violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights of Latinos.

The department harassed and searched residents simply because of their ethnicity or skin color in an effort to root out undocumented immigrants, but most of the people accosted by the posses were legal residents or American citizens. The judge ordered Arpaio to halt the practice immediately.

"I wish from the bottom of my heart that this ruling would have come out a month earlier. Had this ruling come out a month earlier, who knows how many signatures we would have gotten," said recall supporter Martin Quezada, Democratic state Rep of Avondale, according to the Associated Press.

The recall effort grew out of opposition to Arpaio's heavy-handed tactics during his 20-year tenure as sheriff. Arpaio's critics say his office bungled over 400 sexual assault cases and ignored serious criminal offenses because it was too focused on tracking down immigrants. The taxpayers are also on the hook for $25 million in legal settlements won by plaintiffs against the department.

For his part, Arpaio is unabashed by the recall attempt. "This effort failed because the good people of Maricopa County, whom I'm honored to serve, rejected the wrong-headed idea of overturning an election," he said in a statement.

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