His extreme treatment of prisoners and detainees drew widespread condemnation and allegations of racial bias. A 2011 Justice Department report concluded that Arpaio engaged in “unconstitutional policing” by systematically targeting Latinos for racial profiling. That same year, in response to a lawsuit, a federal judge ordered Arpaio to stop detaining and harassing residents of largely Latino neighborhoods. He ignored the order and continued to perform sweeps, claiming they were lawful.

The judge charged him with civil contempt in 2015 and criminal contempt, a misdemeanor offense, the following year. A federal court found him guilty in July. Trump’s pardon comes before that legal process against Arpaio had finished: His sentencing hearing was scheduled for October, where he faced a maximum of six months behind bars.

Shortly after the pardon’s announcement, Arpaio told the Arizona Republic that while he didn’t know his next move, he didn’t think his political career had ended. “I told my wife that I was through with politics,” he said in an interview. “But now I've decided I'm not through with politics because of what's happening. I didn't ask for a pardon. It has nothing to do with a pardon.” Arpaio lost his reelection bid for a seventh term as Maricopa County sheriff in 2016.

News of the pardon drew condemnation from Democrats, including members of Arizona’s congressional delegation. “Arpaio hurt Arizonans & cost taxpayers a great amount of grief & money,” Representative Kyrsten Sinema, whose district is within Maricopa County, wrote on Twitter. “He should be held accountable. No one is above the law.” Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said the pardon “is a slap in the face to the people of Maricopa County, especially the Latino community and those he victimized as he systematically and illegally violated their civil rights.”

Arizona’s two Republican senators also expressed disappointment with the president’s decision. “Regarding the Arpaio pardon, I would have preferred that the President honor the judicial process and let it take its course,” Jeff Flake wrote on Twitter. In a statement, John McCain offered a blunter critique. “The president 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,” the state’s senior senator said.

Civil-rights organizations that had battled with Arpaio in the courts during his tenure severely criticized the move. Cecilia Wang, the deputy legal director of the ACLU, said the president “has chosen lawlessness over justice” and that the pardon amounted to “a presidential endorsement of racism.”

Trump, whom Arpaio endorsed during the campaign, first raised the possibility of pardoning the sheriff in a Fox News interview in early August. When he traveled to Phoenix for a rally weeks later, White House officials had to publicly deny widespread speculation that he would announce the pardon there. Trump himself seemed to savor the buzz surrounding it that night and used it to fire up his assembled supporters.