Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio cited a non-existent federal law and included a legal interpretation taken from an anti-immigration Web site in a document he distributed during a news conference last week.

Arpaio used the document to bolster his claim that he can continue to arrest undocumented immigrants during controversial crime sweeps even without a special agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"We don't need that authority. I don't need any federal authority from (the agreement)," he said.

Arpaio said he will launch his 12th crime sweep today.

ICE stripped Arpaio of the authority to let deputies enforce federal immigration laws on the street under a revised agreement amid criticism that the sweeps are an excuse to hunt for illegal immigrants by stopping Latino motorists for minor traffic violations, an illegal practice known as profiling.

On Thursday, sheriff's officials admitted the document contained an incorrect citation of the law. Arpaio also acknowledged that the information came from a legal interpretation pulled by a staff member from the Internet.

Arpaio initially denied knowing which Web site. He later said it came from the Cornell University Law School's Web site.

However, the interpretation actually originated on the Federation for American Immigration Reform Web site and has been reposted by anti-immigrant and border-control groups. Washington, D.C.,-based FAIR opposes immigration, legal and illegal. The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated the organization as a hate group, which FAIR vehemently denies.

Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for FAIR, verified that the language cited in Arpaio's document originated from a legal interpretation the group published in 1999.

The Arpaio document cites a provision of Title 8 of the federal code followed by language that says "state and local law-enforcement officials have the general power to investigate and arrest violators of federal immigration statutes without prior INS knowledge or approval, as long as they are authorized to do so by state law."

It also states that "evasive, nervous, or erratic behavior; dress or speech indicating foreign citizenship; and presence in an area known to contain a concentration of illegal aliens" can be used to constitute reasonable suspicions someone is in the country illegally.

Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration lawyer in Ithaca, N.Y., who teaches at Cornell University said the document Arpaio cited did not come from the school's Web site. In fact, the specific statute cited does not exist.

Title 8 does address local police enforcement of federal immigration laws, but none of the language contained in Arpaio's document comes from that law, Yale-Loehr said. Instead, "what he has cited is an overly simplistic interpretation of a very complicated area of law," Yale-Loehr said.

Annie Lai, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, said the document "sends a signal to the public that they can be targeted for law enforcement based on their appearance, and that is simply not true. It (also) sends a message to his deputies that they can make stops that potentially violate people's constitutional rights."

The organization has filed a federal lawsuit alleging deputies illegally profiled Latino drivers and passengers during their sweeps.

Arpaio downplayed the document, arguing that although it was lifted from the Internet, the legal interpretation is sound.

"Although the citation and language does not appear in the U.S. code, Title 8 does exist, and the Sheriff's Office believes that it still has the authority under federal law to detain illegal aliens during the course of their duties," spokesman Brian Lee said in a statement.

At the Oct. 6 news conference, County Attorney Andrew Thomas stood by Arpaio while staff circulated the document. Thomas did not return phone calls seeking comment Thursday.

Arpaio said if ICE officials refuse to accept suspected illegal immigrants encountered by deputies during today's sweep, he will drive them to the border and hand them over to the Border Patrol.

ICE officials declined to comment.

Reach the reporter at 602-444-8312 or daniel.gonzalez@arizonarepublic.com.