Thread: Utah sued by ACLU over immigration law

Utah sued by ACLU over immigration law

By JOSH LOFTIN Associated Press
Posted: 05/03/2011 10:44:21 AM MDT

SALT LAKE CITY—Two national organizations are suing Utah to halt a new immigration law they claim encourages racial profiling.

The National Immigration Law Center says an enforcement measure signed by Gov. Gary Herbert in March is just as unconstitutional as a similar Arizona law that courts have already struck down. The American Civil Liberties Union also has joined the lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Salt Lake City.

The most controversial parts of Arizona's law are on hold pending a trial. They include a provision that would require police officers who are enforcing other laws to question the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country illegally.

Utah's law requires people to prove their citizenship only if they're arrested for a felony or class-A misdemeanor.

The national groups say states are not allowed to trump federal law and that the Utah law violates the constitutional protection from unlawful search and seizure.

http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_17982451

I see the ACLU doesn't have a problem with Utah "trumping" federal law by giving illegal aliens working papers, eh?

Why are they allowed to operate in the US if they don't represent US citizens and legal residents???

The National Immigration Law Center says an enforcement measure signed by Gov. Gary Herbert in March is just as unconstitutional as a similar Arizona law that courts have already struck down. The American Civil Liberties Union also has joined the lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Salt Lake City.

All they want to do is support illegal aliens when the United States just had one of the worst foreign murderer killed in United State's History. What happen this past Sunday night should teach us all a lesson and give us Americans a desperate reason to clean this Country of undocumented aliens and secure our borders. Who sent the letter to President Obama this morning that was destroyed by a bomb squad? The U.S. have too many foreign born undocumented aliens residing among us citizens that need major attention.

These groups are full of shyt! They say, they only protect people I have yet to see 1 of these groups protesting what has been taking place in mexico it seems they don't care about life south of the border their only concern is to keep people here who don't belong! They don't care that the atf is supplying guns and ammo to the cartels not 1 tear for that. If we send a mexican national packing omg were profiling and its the worst crime we could comitt againt humanity! These obl's need a reality check. I still say our issue isn't america the real issue is the mexican goverment and their lack of support for their people. If their goverment won't step up I say their cartel food and when it gets too bad down there we go in and take it over move the border to the top of south america and send them down there to live and ca,az, and texas can gain those lands for all the suffering of their citizans

Originally Posted by moptop

These groups are full of shyt! They say, they only protect people I have yet to see 1 of these groups protesting what has been taking place in mexico it seems they don't care about life south of the border their only concern is to keep people here who don't belong! They don't care that the atf is supplying guns and ammo to the cartels not 1 tear for that. If we send a mexican national packing omg were profiling and its the worst crime we could comitt againt humanity! These obl's need a reality check. I still say our issue isn't america the real issue is the mexican goverment and their lack of support for their people. If their goverment won't step up I say their cartel food and when it gets too bad down there we go in and take it over move the border to the top of south America and send them down there to live and ca,az, and texas can gain those lands for all the suffering of their citizans

I believe illegal aliens are sent to this Country, and showed the way to arrive here, otherwise how can none English speaking people travel 3000 miles to a Country they know nothing about? How long will it take to walk 3000 miles to the United States? Someone is not telling the truth about the illegal immigration issue is reason for supporting them and trying to grant amnesty.

The ACLU is FULL OF LA RAZAN ATTORNEYS - WHAT DO YOU EXPECT??? IT'S NOT BEEN THE ACLU FOR WELL OVER 25 YEARS - IT'S THE MCLU!!!!

Lawsuit seeks to halt Utah immigration measure
7 comments

HB 497 is a watered-down version of Arizona's controversial statute. The ACLU and the National Immigration Law Center say it violates civil rights as well as federal law.

By Nicholas Riccardi, Los Angeles Times

May 4, 2011
Utah won national attention this year for promoting a gentler approach to immigration when it passed a law essentially allowing illegal immigrants to remain in the state if they work and don't commit crimes.

Yet on Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Immigration Law Center filed a federal lawsuit to stop the implementation next week of another Utah immigration law, one modeled on a controversial Arizona law that enlists local police to help root out illegal immigrants.

"The statute violates everyone's civil rights," said Cecilia Wang of the ACLU. "The practical effect is that people will have to carry their ID with them at all times."

Utah's HB 497 is a watered-down version of Arizona's law, most of which was put on hold last year by a judge who ruled that it was unconstitutional, a decision upheld last month by a federal appellate court.

The Arizona law made it a state crime to lack immigration papers and requires police to investigate the immigration status of people they stop and also think are illegal immigrants — meaning even people who jaywalk or are pulled over for not using turn signals could face scrutiny.

The Utah version does not create a new crime and only requires an investigation into a person's status after arrests for a felony or misdemeanor. HB 497 was passed by the conservative state Legislature at the same time as the state's guest-worker program, which would give a legal identity card to illegal immigrants who pass a background check, pay a fine and are employed.

Each of the contradictory approaches is popular. Polls have shown that wide majorities in Utah and nationwide favor an Arizona-like approach to deport all illegal immigrants but also favor allowing those who are law-abiding to stay in the country.

The contradiction explains much of the paralysis surrounding the question of what to do about illegal immigration. "Since George Washington's time, we have welcomed and shunned immigrants at the same time," said Muzaffar Chishti of the Migration Policy Institute. He noted that there are loud partisans who back the extremes — mass deportation or mass amnesty. "The middle has not made up its mind."

Utah's leaders have touted their approach as balancing enforcement and compassion. In a statement Tuesday, Ally Isom, a spokeswoman for Republican Gov. Gary R. Herbert, said: "The efforts of the ACLU/NILC would be much better spent in proposing and advocating realistic immigration reform rather than pursuing litigation against those who are trying to deal with our current problems."

Utah Atty. Gen. Mark Shurtleff said the state's leaders scrambled last year to stop hard-liners from passing an Arizona-style law and repealing two other pro-immigrant measures. "It was going south real fast," he said in an interview Tuesday.

Business leaders came up with the idea of the Utah Compact, a statement of principles that urged law enforcement to focus on stopping crime rather than enforcing federal immigration law. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is growing rapidly overseas, has signed on, and what seemed like a long-shot proposal got new life. Meanwhile, state legislative leaders repeatedly weakened the bill that became HB 497.

"But legislators still felt like they were taking a big risk on [the guest-worker bill] and they had to tell their constituents they voted for an enforcement bill," Shurtleff said.

The guest-worker law would require a federal waiver, and critics say it clearly flies in the face of federal law, which does not allow any state to create its own immigration policy. That bar is what doomed much of Arizona's law last year and is cited by the plaintiffs who sued Utah on Tuesday over its enforcement law.

The plaintiffs said they did not sue over the guest-worker law because it would not take effect until 2013.

A similar explanation was given by U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. to the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, when pressed as to why his department — which sued Arizona over its law last year — wasn't suing over Utah's guest-worker bill.

"If it is not changed to our satisfaction by 2013," Holder said, "we will take all the necessary steps."

Archie Archuleta, a Latino activist who is a plaintiff in the lawsuit filed Tuesday, said that there was fear in the state's immigrant communities over HB 497 but that the guest-worker proposal remains murky and wouldn't take effect for years.

"The other bill," he said, referring to the guest-worker measure, "has provided more confusion than comfort."

www.latimes.com

Well if 80% of the country supports getting rid of these people then I think the middle has spoken to deaf ears!

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