A North Carolina civil rights group says it will investigate a sheriff's office for racial profiling after a sheriff said "Mexicans are trashy."

The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina sent a letter to Sheriff Steve Bizzell stating that its office was filing requests for arrest records, checkpoint documents, and reports that include statistical information indicating race of individuals stopped.

The action comes after Sheriff Steve Bizzell apologized for comments published Sunday in The News & Observer of Raleigh.

Bizzell also said illegal immigrants in his county were "breeding like rabbits," but said he sympathized with immigrant laborers and acknowledged they enrich the lives of his constituents.

"Blanket assertions like this about an entire class of people, again despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, if put into practice, are the very essence of racial and ethnic profiling by law enforcement that are prohibited under state law," said Jennifer Rudinger, Executive Director of the ACLU of North Carolina in a press release.

Bizzell later said he didn't intend to make broad statements that reflected on legal and law-abiding Hispanics.

Related Link:
ACLU letter to Sheriff Bizzell