Obama
Administration Files Lawsuit To Stop
Arizona
From Protecting Its Borders, Upholding
Illegal
Immigration Law
The U.S. Justice Department is filing a
lawsuit challenging the
constitutionality of
Arizona's new law targeting illegal
immigrants, setting the stage for a
clash
between the federal government and
state over
the nation's toughest immigration
crackdown.
The planned lawsuit was confirmed to
The
Associated Press by a Justice
Department
official with knowledge of the plans.
The
official didn't want to be identified
before a
public announcement planned for later
Tuesday
by Attorney General Eric Holder and
Homeland
Security secretary Janet Napolitano, a
former
Arizona governor. The lawsuit will
argue that Arizona's
law requiring state and
local
police to question and possibly arrest
illegal
immigrants during the enforcement of
other
laws such as traffic stops usurps
federal
authority. The government contends
that the
Arizona law violates the supremacy
clause of
the Constitution, a legal theory that
says
federal laws override state laws. It
is
already illegal under federal law to
be in the
country illegally, but Arizona is the
first
state to make it a state crime and add
its own
punishment and enforcement tactics.
State Sen.
Russell Pearce, the principal sponsor
of the
bill co-sponsored by dozens of fellow
Republican legislators, denounced the
reported
lawsuit as "absolute insult to the
rule
of law" as well as to Arizona and its
residents. "It's outrageous and it's
clear they don't want (immigration)
laws
enforced. What they want is to
continue their
non-enforcement policy," Pearce said.
"They ignore the damage to America,
the
cost to our citizens, the deaths" tied
to
border-related violence.