Thread: Donations to defend Ariz. immigration law top $3.6 MILLION

Donations to defend Ariz. immigration law top $2M

August 31, 2010 5:40 pm

Gov. Jan Brewer's office says Arizona has received more than $2 million in donations to help pay for the legal defense of the state's controversial law targeting illegal immigration.

Seven lawsuits were filed to challenge the law. Two have been dismissed but a judge ruled on filed by the U.S. Justice Department by blocking key provisions of the law from taking effect July 29.

Brewer is appealing that ruling.

http://azstarnet.com/news/state-and-reg ... 6a1b5.html

Great how people are helping Arizona in it's effort to do the job the federal government won't do.

Wyo. Man Donates $1.5M to Defend Immigration Law

Updated: Thursday, 02 Sep 2010, 7:23 PM MDT
Published : Thursday, 02 Sep 2010, 7:23 PM MDT

JONATHAN J. COOPER & PAUL DAVENPORT, Associated Press Writers

PHOENIX (AP) — A Wyoming man has given more than $1.5 million to help defend Arizona's controversial immigration enforcement measure in court, Gov. Jan Brewer's office said Thursday.

The contribution from Timothy Mellon of Saratoga is the largest to Brewer's defense fund, which has amassed more than $3.6 million from 41,000 donors nationwide. Mellon could not immediately be reached for comment.

Mellon's Aug. 18 donation was 300 times more than the next-largest contribution of $5,000 — an amount donated by at least four people, records show.

The latest legal bills released Thursday show Brewer's office has spent more than $440,000 for the first two months of defending the law.

The bills, obtained through a public records request by The Associated Press, are for work performed through June by Phoenix law firm Snell & Wilmer. They do not cover July hearings in federal court before a judge Susan Bolton temporarily blocked enforcement of the law's most controversial provisions.

Brewer has appealed Bolton's order to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Her office is defending the state against seven lawsuits challenging Arizona's law, including cases filed by the U.S. Justice of Department, civil rights groups and two police officers.

Bolton has dismissed two of the cases.

"The fees incurred have been, and will continue to be, sizeable," Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman said, noting there have been more than 900 legal filings totaling more than 12,000 pages.

The invoices are heavily redacted and don't reveal details about the state's defense strategy or lawyers' thoughts. They show Snell & Wilmer attorneys in frequent contact with the governor's in-house lawyer and occasionally talking with Kris Kobach, a law professor who helped draft the measure and is running for secretary of state in Kansas.

Attorneys met with Brewer and state Sen. Russell Pearce, the measure's chief sponsor, on June 10.

In June, lawyers billed the state between $225 and $450 per hour for more than 1,100 hours of work at a cost of $363,000.

That work follows $77,000 for 241 hours of work in the last 12 days of May.

Arizona's law would generally require officers enforcing other measures to check the immigration status of people they suspect are illegal immigrants.

Border Security & Immigration Defense Fund: keepazsafe.com

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/money/i ... d-9-2-2010

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http://www.alipac.us/article-5628--0-0.html

When are the GOOD guys going to start slammin the bad guys with lawsuits?

If the DOJ can sue Americans to aid and abet illegal immigrants why can't we sue the government 100 ways till Sunday?

Originally Posted by onetrickydude

When are the GOOD guys going to start slammin the bad guys with lawsuits?

If the DOJ can sue Americans to aid and abet illegal immigrants why can't we sue the government 100 ways till Sunday?

Law suits take big money and the government gets to use all of the taxpayer money they need.

USA TODAY

Ariz. immigration law's legal costs could top $1 million

By Ginger Rough, The Arizona Republic

PHOENIX — Defending the state against lawsuits related to its tough new immigration law has cost more than $440,000 to date, and outstanding bills could easily add up to an excess of $1 million or more.
The bills so far cover work and charges incurred only through the end of June, which doesn't include any costs related to a U.S. Department of Justice suit filed in July.

"The fees incurred have been, and will continue to be, sizeable as the governor's counsel responds to the massive number of filings in these lawsuits and prepares her filings before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals," Paul Senseman, Gov. Jan Brewer's spokesman, said in an e-mail Thursday.


U.S. GOVERNMENT: Ariz. sheriff sued in civil rights probe
NUMBERS DOWN: Fewer illegal immigrants entering USA
FULL COVERAGE: Immigration policy in the USA

The state law, portions of which took effect July 29, had been the subject of seven federal suits. One has been thrown out; another has been partially dismissed. A federal injunction has halted four parts of state Senate Bill 1070, and that is what the governor is appealing.

Money to pay for the state's legal costs is coming from Brewer's legal defense fund. So far she has authorized two expenditures: one for just over $77,000 to cover bills received for work in the last 11 days of May, and the second for $363,520.25 to cover the June legal charges.

The fund has received more than $3.6 million in donations to date, from 41,478 donors all across the country. A single donation in the amount of $1.5 million was received in the last two weeks from Timothy Mellon of Laramie, Wyo., Brewer's office said.

Public records show that Mellon is heir to a family banking fortune and is the chairman of Pan Am Systems, a privately-owned shipping and freight company based out of New Hampshire.

Mellon could not immediately be reached for comment.

Contributing: Alia Beard Rau, The Arizona Republic
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http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/201 ... uits_N.htm

Hope someone tells Obama how much has been raised to fight him and his "buddys"...............this says a lot about the American people when everyone joins together to stand up to this thug!!

I applaud all good news when it comes to fighting the onslaught of illegals into our country. Special thanks to the generous donators that have come to the rescue of Arizona and our country.