Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was found to have violated the civil rights of Latinos in a racial-profiling caseexpected to cost taxpayers $92 million by next summer, has been pardoned by President Donald Trump.

PHOENIX — In his 24 years as metro Phoenix’s sheriff, Joe Arpaio survived scandals and dodged investigations that would easily have sunk the careers of many politicians.

He locked up journalists and made criminal cases against political adversaries who tangled with him, investigated judges and misspent $100 million in jail funds. He let investigations into child rape cases languish because officers were pulled away, in part, to help in Arpaio’s immigrant efforts.

Arpaio was found to have violated the civil rights of Latinos in a racial-profiling case expected to cost taxpayers $92 million by next summer.

His critics felt like they finally won a measure of accountability against the lawman after he was found guilty earlier this month on a misdemeanor contempt charge for flouting the courts in carrying out his signature immigration patrols.

But their victory was upended when a pardon by his most powerful political ally — President Donald Trump — allowed Arpaio to wiggle out of legal jeopardy again.

For Arpaio, the pardon is the ultimate vindication after repeatedly complaining that he was being unfairly targeted for merely enforcing the law in arresting immigrants in the country illegally.

A judge nominated to the bench by former President George W. Bush ordered Arpaio to stop his immigration patrols in 2011 amid allegations that his officers were racially profiling Latinos. The judge later found Arpaio’s office systematically profiled Latinos and recommended a criminal charge against the sheriff for prolonging the patrols 17 months after he had ordered them stopped.

The pardon drew widespread condemnation among Latinos, Democrats and even some Republicans who believe the move is offensive to immigrants at a time of deep racial divisions in the aftermath of the violence in Charlottesville. Some conservatives said it was a long-overdue action to preserve the legacy of a man they say was punished for doing his job.

“It’s a misdemeanor equal to a barking-dog complaint,” said Tom Morrissey, a former chairman of the Arizona Republican Party. “To spend millions of taxpayer dollars to go after Sheriff Joe for doing his job, I think, was kind of ridiculous.”

The reality is that taxpayers in Phoenix and its suburbs will pay for Arpaio’s racial profiling for years to come.

The overall profiling case against Arpaio and his office has already cost taxpayers $66 million on items such as attorney fees, officer training and an alert system to spot problematic behavior by sheriff’s deputies. Over the next year, it will cost an additional $26 million, largely for adding officers to the effort to comply with a court-ordered overhaul of the agency.