05/20/2010 // West Palm Beach, Florida // Nicole Howley // Nicole Howley
Phoenix, AZ— The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), along with several other civil rights organizations, have filed a lawsuit, which is hoping to stop the new Arizona immigration law. The law requires local police to enforce federal immigration regulations, which many say will only lead to racial profiling, as reported by The Los Angeles Times.
Along with the ALCU, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center are named as the plaintiffs.
The lawsuit is at least the fourth one filed since Republican Gov. Jan Brewer signed the controversial law last month.
The law “makes it a state crime to lack immigration paperwork in Arizona and requires police to determine the status of people they suspect are illegal immigrants.”
The plaintiffs assert that the law will only lead to mass racial profiling, and infringes on the U.S. government’s ability to implement an immigration policy and violates the 1st and 4th amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Seventy-year-old U.S. citizen of Spanish and Chinese ethic background is an individual plaintiff named in the suit, in which he contends Arizona police have asked him twice for “papers.” Another individual plaintiff, a Latino Arizona State University (ASU) student and U.S. citizen says that police wouldn’t accept his New Mexico drivers license as a form of proof of citizenship. A Jamaican immigrant also fears that police won’t believe that a photocopy of a judge’s order to allow him to stay in the U.S. will be accepted; its the only form of legal paperwork detailing his legal status that he has.
Gov. Brewer has reportedly ordered all police officers to receive training to ensure that there will be no racial profiling.
Legal News Reporter: Nicole Howley-Legal news for Arizona government lawyers.
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