On Monday, a criminal trial begins in downtown Phoenix in which the 85-year-old former sheriff is accused of ignoring a federal judge's order to curtail the crackdown. Some in the Latino community are happy to see the tables turned on him.

About a decade ago Joe Arpaio started instructing his deputies to make traffic stops and detain any unauthorized immigrants they encountered. Then they'd turn the immigrants over to federal agents for deportation.

"These immigration raids tore our neighborhood apart," said Lydia Guzman, an activist who helped sue Arpaio over those tactics.

She spoke at a crowded Mexican restaurant, not far from where many of Arpaio's operations took place.

"I'm here in the heart of the Hispanic community and I see different families with kids I see you know people enjoying themselves. This is what it should have been all along. Not people living in and fear and trying to hide," she said.