PHOENIX -- The Rev. Al Sharpton on Friday called for opponents of an Arizona sheriff who has aggressively cracked down on illegal immigration to videotape alleged racial profiling by the sheriff's office.

• Raw Video: Sharpton At Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church


• Raw Video: 'Meeting Cordial,' Arpaio Says Of Sharpton

The civil rights leader said the videos will help the U.S. Department of Justice in an investigation of alleged civil rights abuses by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office. Sharpton was scheduled to meet with Arpaio later in the day.

"We're gonna start some freedom rides around this county, to show how people of a certain skin color are treated different than other people," Sharpton told a crowd of several hundred people at the Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church in Phoenix.

The meeting Friday joins two figures known for outsized egos and media antics, but Sharpton said it had a serious message. In April, Sharpton called for Arpaio to resign or be removed from office.

"I will not fly all the way across country to engage in the personality of Sheriff Joe," Sharpton said. "But I will fly anywhere to protect the rights of Citizen Jose and Citizen Jamal."

Critics said sheriff's deputies have racially profiled people during immigration and crime sweeps in some Latino areas in metropolitan Phoenix.

"You cannot have law enforcement that is based on skin color rather than proper deeds," Sharpton said. "If I break the law, arrest me. But don't make me a suspect because of the color of my skin, or because of my language."

Arpaio had said people pulled over in the sweeps were approached because deputies had probable cause to believe they had committed crimes.

The sheriff has taken a hard line against illegal immigration and strongly enforces Arizona's employer-sanctions law, which punishes businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

He worked with Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas to use the state's human-smuggling law to charge illegal immigrants for conspiring to smuggle themselves into the state.

The sheriff has publicly clashed with other local law enforcement who said Arpaio was damaging a delicate relationship between the police and the Hispanic community.

Arpaio supporters followed the reverend Friday morning to voice their support for the sheriff and his illegal immigration fight.

"(The sheriff) was elected five times," said supporter Anna Gaines. "So what is (Sharpton) doing here? He has no business being here."

Critics say sheriff's deputies racially profiled people during immigration and crime sweeps in some heavily Latino areas in metropolitan Phoenix.

Arpaio claims people pulled over in the sweeps were approached because deputies had probable cause to believe they had committed crimes.