Arizona immigration law hit with its first 2 lawsuits

[sabra]

Source: The Arizona Republic

Arizona's new immigration law was hit with two lawsuits Thursday.

The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders filed a suit in the U.S. District Court in downtown Phoenix, alleging that the law is illegal because it usurps federal authority in immigration enforcement and because of concerns the law may lead to racial profiling.

Meanwhile, an attorney
representing a Tucson police officer has filed suit in U.S. District Court in Tucson to block the law.

A trio of other legal groups is scheduled Thursday to announce their plans to file a joint lawsuit to also challenge the law. SB 1070, signed by Gov. Jan Brewer Friday, is set to become law 90 days after adjournment of the state Legislature.

The three groups - ACLU of Arizona, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and the National Immigration Law Center - also contend that the law is unconstitutional, encourages racial profiling, endangers public safety and betrays American values.


Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2010/04/29/20100429arizona-immigration-lawsuit29-ON.html

[BlooInBloo]

1. Good. Keep the pressure up from all directions. Lord knows the AZ electorate won't help.

[classysassy]

7. The approval

of Jan the hag is another indication of how stupid the people of arizona are.Jan and sheriff joe the komandant of stalag 17 will cause the state to lose revenue but the brain dead citizens don't care as long as they have some one to blame,Rush and Glen tell them its Obama's fault and the fools believe them.

[pinto]

2. Interesting multi-issue approach in the officer's lawsuit -

In Tucson, a suit on behalf of Officer Martin Escobar alleges the new immigration law violates numerous constitutional rights and could hinder police investigations in Hispanic-prevalent areas.

The lawsuit also claims it violates federal law because Tucson police and the city have no authority to perform immigration duties.

Escobar noted in the lawsuit there's no racially neutral criteria that can be used by officers to determine whether a person is in the country illegally

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2010/04/29/20100429arizona-immigration-lawsuit29-ON.html#ixzz0mVyyBqn6

[Cha]

3. Good! And, all kinds of petitions are started

on our internet to let Arizona "lawmakers" know how we the US citizens feel about their blatant threat to civil rights in America.

[FLyellowdog]

4. And so it begins.

:bounce:

[EFerrari]

5. The Southern Poverty Law Center director called this law

civil rights disaster and an insult to American values.

:bounce:

[jody]

13. SPLC's opinion is worth diddly squat. n/t

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

16. Tell me one liberal organization you actually like.

And no, organizations that exist solely to defend gun rights don't count.

[frylock]

17. and your opinion isn't worth the turd it's printed on

[jody]

18. ROFL Have a great day. n/t

[EFerrari]

24. So, which of your clubs did they criticize?

[pinboy3niner]

6. Good! Legal challenges are best bet to prevent the law going into effect

Referendum is a backup, but it wouldn't be on ballot until November--months after the law is scheduled to go into effect.

[jody]

8. "usurps federal authority" but federal authority refuses to act. There are too many fed laws that

presidents don't enforce and congress refuses to fund enforcement.

The case will end up in SCOTUS and it will be interesting to see How SCOTUS will rule on the constitutionality.

If fed LEOs acted as AZ LEOs are now empowered to act, fed LEOs would probably not be sued.

[Lagomorph]

9. 10% of Mexico's population is in the US at any given moment...

It's damn negligent not to have a system that makes getting a student visa, work visa or travel visa a short, simple process.

[jody]

11. How is the current process for obtaining a visa bad? Are you contending that we should issue visas

to all who apply?

I have many, many friends who have student and work visas and not one has complained the process was a burden.

[Lagomorph]

14. It could be improved on the Mexican side.

And we could help them with that.

[jody]

15. What can Mexico do that would improve the U.S. granting a visa? n/t

[Lagomorph]

23. One of the big bottlenecks....

...is access to Mexico's public records for visa applicants.

I don't have the current numbers, but it was in the area of six million applications pending, sometimes for years.

An up-to-date and accurate database would great facilitate a smooth migration process. Mexico provides many seasonal workers who can't wait for years to get across the border.

[AlbertCat]

12. federal authority refuses to act

No one wants to clamp down on the only thing that will curb the problem... the EMPLOYERS

[No Elephants]

25. Meh, Maybe no one really wants to curb the problem, period.

I think both Republican and Democratic politicians in D.C. see this like they see Social Security: a third rail.

Neither side want to alienate Hispanic voters--and, as with any voters, something is likely piss off a good number of them, no matter what--neither side wants to spend the money and effort thinking through real enforcement would require, short of authorizing our border agents to kill, and neither side wants to deprive employers/donors/consumers of their steady supply of cheap labor.

As Rodriquez said last night on Countdown, we'd have to start thinking about a ten dollar tomato.

[EFerrari]

19. AZ LEOS don't like this Catch 22 law. And the fed ICE programs

are bigger all the time.

These are the same talking points the wingnuts were giving Thom today. And they're wrong from soup to nuts.

[treestar]

22. that's too bad

The Constitution gives this power to the federal government. End of story.

[No Elephants]

26. According to the Governor, this law does no authorize or empower AZ LEO's

to engage in racial profiling. Yet, in reality, the law is aimed at undocumented Mexicans, even though it theoretically applies to undocumented Swedes or Canadians as well. And officers can be sued for NOT enforcing it. So, in reality, they are going to profile on the basis of ethnic origin.

As far as the SCCOTUS, it's currently mostly RW activists claiming to be originalists and strict constructionists, who recently claimed with a straight face that the Framers meant for corporations to have the protection of the First Amendment.


Much of what the current Court does is highly predictable, if you know the Republican Party line. Almost nothing this SCOTUS does is really very interesting, with the possible exception of how much these Justices are willing to lie through their teeth and jump through hoops in order to get to the RW result they want in the case at hand.

Sound off, one, two.

[AlbertCat]

10. SB 1070, signed by Gov. Jan Brewer

Y'know...I can't stand that hick. I don't care if she was born in Hollywood. She musta not been able to get in with the cool kids in school, so she became a friggin' gun totin', science denyin', homophobic hick appointed by god himself to show us the way.... without actually getting elected to the office she now runs.... spending time overturning things the real Governor put into place. Her hair, her voice...ugh! She's probably carrying at her press conferences. I'll bet an "illegal" waters her lawn.

Repug women are downright scary.

[Omaha Steve]

20. Lawsuits challenge new Arizona immigration law

Source: AP

BY JONATHAN J. COOPER and PAUL DAVENPORT

PHOENIX (AP) - Anger mounted Thursday over an Arizona law cracking down on illegal immigration as a police officer filed one of the first lawsuits challenging the law and activists gathered outside an Arizona Diamondbacks game at Wrigley Field in Chicago, chanting "Boycott Arizona."

The lawsuit from 15-year Tucson police veteran Martin Escobar is one of two filed Thursday, less than a week after Republican Gov. Jan Brewer signed the law that's sparked fears it will lead to racial profiling despite the governor's vow that officers will be properly trained.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said the federal government may challenge the law, which requires local and state law enforcement to question people about their immigration status if there's reason to suspect they're in the country illegally, and makes it a state crime to be in the United States illegally.

Escobar, an overnight patrol officer in a heavily Latino area of Tucson, argues there's no way for officers to confirm people's immigration status without impeding investigations, and that the new law violates numerous constitutional rights.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20100429/D9FCV5U80.html

---

Andrea Mercado makes a sign in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, April 27, 2010 in preparation for a planned May 1 immigration rally against Arizona Senate Bill 1070. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

[mwrguy]

21. On NPR today they said that AZ had it's last 3 immigration laws challenged in court

but that all three had been upheld.

Maybe they have a ringer in the courts.

[No Elephants]

27. I hope these lawsuits are successful, not lost on some technicality.

[panzerfaust]

28. Special Kudos to the Cop

it is not going to make him popular.