US President Donald Trump on Friday pardoned controversial former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted last month of criminal contempt for illegally targeting Hispanic immigrants.

In his first act of presidential clemency, Donald Trump pardoned the deeply-divisive 85-year-old who ignored a federal court order that he stop detaining illegal migrants. "He kept Arizona safe!" Trump tweeted, calling Arpaio a "patriot."

The move earned immediate scorn from Democrats, some Republicans and rights groups, who accused the Republican billionaire of seeking to divide the country - which is still reeling from Trump's controversial remarks on racial unrest in Charlottesville.

In a statement, the White House said Arpaio - who made detainees wear pink underwear and housed them in tented desert camps - had "more than fifty years of admirable service to our nation."

Source: Khaleej Times