'Stunning' Clause In AZ Immigration Law Lets Citizens Sue Govt For Lack Of Enforcement

[RamboLiberal]

A highly unusual provision of the Arizona immigration bill -- and one that has flown largely under the radar until now -- could take police resources away from violent crimes in favor of immigration enforcement, as well as triggering a flood of time-consuming lawsuits. One expert calls the provision "stunning."

A clause of the bill, signed last week by Governor Jan Brewer, allows Arizona citizens to file suit against any government entity that "adopts or implements a policy or practice that limits or restricts the enforcement of federal immigration laws to less than the full extent permitted by federal law."

In other words, Arizonans can sue government entities, state or local, if they believe those entities aren't fully enforcing the law -- including, of course, this new law itself. The government could be on the hook for penalties as high as $5000 per day.

That kind of explicit permission to sue the government for not enforcing the law is almost unheard of, according to Mark Miller, a professor at the University of Arizona Law School. "This kind of ... private right of action for an executive decision," -- that is, a law enforcement policy adopted by the government -- "is to my knowledge completely unknown, and to my mind, stunning," Miller told TPMmuckraker.


http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/04/stunning_clause_in_az_immigration_law_lets_citizen.php?ref=fpb

[RadiationTherapy]

1. Vigilanteism codified.

[rubberducky]

2. How many homes, vehicles, businesses, etc. will be stolen from these people?

It sickens me to think what lays ahead for these poor people. Who is to protect these people`s property while they are either jailed or exported? Never thought I`d live to see a law like this , but now I`m afraid that this is just tthe beginning of "tea bagger laws" that we will see.

[gratuitous]

3. Not just sue, but recover attorney's fees

So there's no impediment, really, to the most xenophobic, punitive elements of Arizona's population to suing cities, counties and the state itself, which will consume court resources, cost governmental entities untold amounts of tax dollars, or . . . they can all just knuckle under and indulge the most virulent police state fantasies the bigots can conjure up.

But I'm sure no one will abuse this. Unless, of course, they're even bigger meatheads than even I give them credit for, which is a distinct possibility.