(Photo via Promise Arizona)
On Thursday, a district judge will hear arguments from the Obama administration and from the state of Arizona to decide whether to grant the administration’s request to stop Arizona’s racial profiling law. The hearings are part of the administration’s efforts to stop Arizona and other states from taking matters into their own hands:
The Obama administration has argued that immigration matters are handled on a federal level and that the Arizona law is pre-empted under the U.S. Constitution and federal law. The administration has requested a preliminary injunction blocking the law, arguing that it would cause irreparable harm if it goes into effect.
U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton will hear oral arguments from the federal government as well as the state of Arizona and could grant the preliminary injunction request if she finds that ultimately the Obama administration would succeed on the merits in its quest to nullify the state law.
If she grants the injunction, Arizona state and local authorities would be prevented from enforcing the law. The state could appeal, which would be considered before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Even if the injunction fails, the administration could make an emergency request from the Court of Appeals to keep the law from being enforced while the case continues. The hearings on Thursday will show how the government plans to make its case.
At the same time as the Obama administration is trying to stop Arizona from enforcing its racial profiling law, some Republicans are trying to block the Justice Department’s suit. Senators Jim DeMint, David Vitter, and John McCain have all worked to stop the lawsuit — McCain even gave $5,000 to Arizona’s legal defense fund.
USA Today has more on how Arizona’s law oversteps its bounds:
In court documents, Department of Justice attorneys argue that the new law — officially called the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act — “crossed a constitutional line” by encroaching on a federal responsibility.
Foster Maer, an attorney for Latino Justice, a Hispanic civil rights group supporting the lawsuits, says that stance is bolstered by statements made by Arizona politicians, law enforcement officers and the bill itself that express a desire to drive people out of the state. The bill states that “the intent of this act is to make attrition through enforcement the public policy of all state and local government agencies in Arizona.”
“It’s that whole attitude that fundamentally reflects, ‘Yes, we’re trying to take over immigration policy,’ ” he says. “It really demonizes Latinos generally and immigrants specifically.”
Lucas Guttentag, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, says the lawsuits his group and others filed serve as a warning to other states weighing similar immigration laws.
Having the federal government join the challenges, he says, acts as a “cannon shot across the bow” to those states.
Meanwhile, activists on the ground are working to engage the Arizona public against SB1070. If you want to get more involved with on-the-ground action in Arizona, check out Promise Arizona.
Categories: Arizona, Uncategorized
Tags: department of justice
