State law is illegal if you ask the Federal Arizona immigration lawsuit

The Arizona immigration law was challenged Tuesday in a lawsuit that was filed by the U.S. Justice Department. The federal government wants to block the law from taking effect later this month. The Arizona immigration lawsuit claims that Arizona’s new law is unconstitutional because it overrides federal immigration law. Followers of the Arizona immigration law say that a state overwhelmed with illegal immigration can’t wait for the federal government to deal with immigration reform.

Article resource: Federal Arizona immigration lawsuit says state law is illegal by Personal Money Store

Feds – Arizona immigration law is unconstitutional

The Arizona immigration law says that state and local police to question and possibly arrest illegal immigrants during the enforcement of other laws. Immigrants are required to carry their alien registration documents at all times. It was reported by the Washington Post that the Arizona immigration lawsuit says the law illegally intrudes on federal prerogatives, invoking as its main argument the legal doctrine of “preemption,” which says federal law trumps state statutes. Enforcing immigration laws is a federal responsibility as outlined by the Justice Department.

Immigration law violates civil rights as outlined by Feds

The preemption doctrine is being used within the Arizona immigration lawsuit because it has been established in Supreme Court as one of their decisions. As outlined by the Post, some legal experts have said this can be a good strategy to persuade a judge to declare the Arizona immigration law unconstitutional. But the Arizona immigration lawsuit also asserts the Arizona law would violate civil rights and also would lead to police harassment of both U.S. citizens and legal immigrants.

Arizona – the epicenter of the immigration crisis

Arizona passed the immigration law after years of public outcry over social issues credited to illegal immigration, including unemployment, drug trafficking and violent kidnappings. The Associated Press reports the state is the biggest gateway to the U.S. for illegal immigration and is home to an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants. Arizona’s Republican governor, who’s Jan Brewer, has accused the Obama administration of failing to secure the border with Mexico, forcing her state to act on its own on the immigration crisis. Brewer’s spokesman explained to AP that the governor would have preferred that the federal government focus its resources and attention on the immigration crisis instead of the Arizona immigration lawsuit.

Poll states that border security trumps immigration reform

Despite the outcry for immigration reform legislation, CNN reports that various senior Democratic sources said they see virtually no chance of Congress stepping up to deal with it before November’s midterm elections. A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. national poll conducted in late May says that nine out of 10 Americans want to increase U.S. law enforcement along the border with all of Mexico. Eight in 10 also supported a program that lets illegal immigrants already in the United States to stay here and apply for legal residency if they have a job and pay taxes. But only 38 percent say that immigration reform should be a higher priority than border security.

More details available at these web sites:

Washington Post

washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/06/AR2010070601928.html?hpid=topnews

Associated Press

google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jup3stJNgod5yvfvOU1IInU0erAwD9GPN88G0

CNN

cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/07/06/arizona.immigration.lawsuit/index.html?npt=NP1