PHOENIX – The federal lawsuit against Arizona’s tough new immigration law focuses heavily on a question that has been in the spotlight repeatedly the past decade and dates back to the Founding Fathers: The right of the government to keep states from enacting laws that usurp federal authority.
The lawsuit filed in Phoenix federal court on Tuesday sidestepped concerns about the potential for racial profiling and civil rights violations most often raised by immigration advocates.
Experts said those are weaker arguments that don’t belong in a legal challenge brought by the White House to get the measure struck down. Instead, the suit lays out why the government believes that immigration laws passed by Congress and enforced by a range of federal agencies must take precedence to any passed by a state Legislature.
The Arizona law requires officers, while enforcing other laws, to question a person’s immigration status if there’s a reasonable suspicion that they are here illegally, such as speaking poor English, traveling in an overcrowded vehicle, or hanging out in an area where immigrants typically congregate. The law also makes it a state crime for legal immigrants to not carry their immigration documents.
Backers of the law say the crackdown is a necessary tool to keep illegal immigrants out of Arizona and combat problems such as drug trafficking, murders and violent kidnappings that have become so common in a state that is home to an estimated 460,000 undocumented residents.
The federal government will ask a judge to grant an injunction to block the law from taking effect on July 29. The arguments will focus on a core constitutional concern balancing power between the states and the federal government. More specifically, the issue centers on the long-running “pre-emption” legal argument that says federal law trumps state law.
“The nation’s immigration laws reflect a careful and considered balance of national law enforcement, foreign relations, and humanitarian interests,” the suit says.
