Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Monday that even before the new Arizona immigration law was signed last week, his deputies were arresting "very few" non-Hispanics.

Arpaio is under federal investigation over allegations of mistreatment of prisoners and for allegedly unfairly targeting Hispanics, which he has repeatedly said is politically motivated.

Asked Monday night during an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live" what percentage of non-Hispanics have been detained out of all the arrests his office has made, Arpaio responded: "Well, very few."

"We happen to be next to the border," Arpaio said. "So, consequently, many of the arrests are from Mexico or Latin America."

While the state does suffer from an illegal immigration as well as violence stemming from the drug trade along the border, Arpaio effectively conceded that Hispanics already represent a disproportionate amount of arrests made in the state.

According to census data, 59.6 percent of the state's residents are white while 29 percent are Hispanic.

Arpaio disputed that his office is guilty of racial profiling, pointing to the ongoing federal investigation against him that has yet to produce an indictment.

"They've been roaming around for a year and a half," he said of the federal investigators. "If we're racial profiling, where is the proof?"

The Arizona Republic is a member of the Politico Network.