AG asks court to add federal government to immigration lawsuit

indianas4.com
Press Release
3:38 p.m. EDT, October 11, 2011

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller asked a court Tuesday to add the federal government to the lawsuit challenging Indiana's new immigration law, Senate Enrolled Act 590.

The U.S. Department of Justice recently indicated it might file suit against Indiana's immigration statute as it has already done with immigration laws in two other states. Zoeller said the federal government is a necessary party for the legal arguments at issue in the legal challenge that private plaintiffs filed against Indiana's statute.

"This case is about what authority the states have in the absence of federal guidance in immigration policy and enforcement; and so the federal government is a necessary party. Hoosiers' frustration with federal inaction prompted the Indiana General Assembly to pass this law. Defending the statute is our obligation, but the Department of Justice should represent the federal government and not leave it to others to represent their position," Zoeller said.

Zoeller is citing Rule 19(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in asking the court to add, or join, the federal government as a necessary party in the lawsuit that the ACLU plaintiffs filed against the State on May 25. The State's Motion to Join was filed today in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, the same court where the ACLU plaintiffs' legal challenge to SEA 590 is being heard. Judge Sarah Evans Barker has not yet ruled on whether the federal government will be joined as a necessary party.

On June 24, Judge Barker granted the plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction blocking state enforcement of two provisions of SEA 590. One provision that didn't take effect dealt in part with arrests of illegal immigrants subject to immigration court removal orders; the other had prohibited use of foreign consular identification cards as ID in the state. As state government's lawyer, Zoeller decided not to appeal the preliminary ruling to the federal appeals court; instead his office continues to fight the plaintiffs' separate motion for a permanent injunction at the U.S. District Court level.

Attorney General Zoeller was among a group of civic leaders who on February 9 signed the Indiana Compact, a statement of principles for how immigration policy should be reformed.

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