Fate of new immigration laws still in play

Posted 6m ago
By Alan Gomez, USA TODAY

After months of protest marches, federal lawsuits, economic boycotts and support rallies, two controversial immigration laws in Arizona and Nebraska are scheduled to take effect on Thursday.
Yet both laws could still be derailed before then, leaving government officials, lawyers and hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants in limbo.

MarĂ*a PabĂłn LĂłpez, a professor at the Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis, said if both laws survive these initial tests, they will "unleash more copycat legislation." If they are struck down, it will take the "wind out of the sails" of a growing number of local government efforts to pass immigration laws.

"These are going to be monumental decisions," LĂłpez said. "A lot of people are holding their breath."

In Arizona, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton is considering some of the seven lawsuits filed to halt the state's law. It would require police officers to question the immigration status of suspects stopped for another offense if there's a "reasonable suspicion" they are in the country illegally.

She heard arguments last week in lawsuits filed by the Justice Department and a group of civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union.

Gabriel Chin, a professor at the University of Arizona Rogers College of Law, said Bolton is likely to rule before Thursday, because 15,000 law enforcement officers and hundreds of prosecutors and defense attorneys in the state will have to readjust their plans quickly based on her decision.

Voters in Fremont, Neb., approved an ordinance last month that would require businesses in the city to verify the legal status of each employee. It also would require an immigration status check of anybody renting a home or apartment in the city after the law goes into effect.

The City Council will meet tonight to consider suspending the ordinance to give the council more time to decide how to pay for and prepare what could be an expensive legal defense.

"As we evaluate legal challenges ahead, we need to look at our resources carefully," council President Scott Getzschman said in a statement.

Two lawsuits have been filed to stop that ordinance from taking effect, and a federal judge is scheduled to hear those cases Wednesday.

Jennifer Chang Newell, an ACLU attorney involved in one of the Fremont lawsuits, said the "dangerous" law "encourages discrimination and racial profiling against Latinos and others deemed foreign-born."

Supporters of the law, such as Republican state Sen. Charlie Janssen, have argued illegal immigrants drain public resources and that the Fremont ordinance is not racist or "anti-immigration" but simply "anti-illegal immigration."

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