Thread: Justice Department Sues SC Over State's Strict Immigration L

Justice Department Sues South Carolina Over State's Strict Immigration Law

foxnews.com
Associated Press
Published October 31, 2011

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The federal government filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to stop implementation of South Carolina's tough new immigration law, arguing that the legislation that requires law officers to check suspects' immigration status is unconstitutional.

Federal officials and state officials had met to discuss the issue a week ago.

The government wants a judge to stop enforcement of the legislation, which requires that officers call federal immigration officials if they suspect someone is in the country illegally following a stop for something else, U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles told The Associated Press.

"The Department of Justice has many important tasks," Nettles said. "Two of those important tasks are the defense of the constitution and ensuring equality is afforded to all."

The lawsuit filed in federal court names Gov. Nikki Haley as a defendant. A spokesman for the Republican, the daughter of immigrants from India, said the state was forced to pass its own law because there is no strong federal immigration law.

"If the feds were doing their job, we wouldn't have had to address illegal immigration reform at the state level," Rob Godfrey said. "But, until they do, we're going to keep fighting in South Carolina to be able to enforce our laws."

A spokesman for state Attorney General Alan Wilson, who will act as Haley's attorney, said he had not seen the complaint.

South Carolina's law, which takes effect Jan. 1, also mandates that all businesses check their new hires' legal status through a federal online system. Businesses that knowingly violate the law could have their operating licenses revoked.

The law says all law enforcement officers are required to call federal immigration officials if they suspect someone is in the country illegally. The question must follow an arrest or traffic stop for something else. The measure bars officers from holding someone solely on that suspicion. Opponents railed against the measure as encouraging racial profiling.

The law also makes it a felony for someone to make fake photo IDs for illegal residents and creates a new law enforcement unit within the Department of Public Safety to enforce state immigration laws. It also makes it a felony for illegal immigrants to allow themselves to be transported.

Nettles said the law is unconstitutional and violates people's right to due process.

The U.S. Justice Department has been reviewing immigration-related laws passed by several states and is challenging similar laws in Arizona and Alabama. Last week, Nettles met with Wilson on the issue, but no details of that meeting were released.

Assistant attorney general Tony West said Monday the agency continues to review similar laws in Utah, Indiana and Georgia. He quoted Haley saying South Carolina's law would cause illegal immigrants to move elsewhere.

"Pushing undocumented individuals out of one state and into another is simply not a solution to our immigration challenges," West said. "It ultimately creates more problems than it solves."

Justice department officials said South Carolina's law, like Alabama's and Arizona's, diverts federal resources from high-priority targets, such as terrorism, drug smuggling and gang activity. They contend the laws will result in the harassment and detention of foreign visitors and legal immigrants, as well as U.S. citizens, who can't immediately prove their legal status.

A deputy assistant attorney general said the agency sent a letter to Alabama schools reminding them that children can't be denied enrollment. Unlike the laws in other states, Alabama's required schools to check students' immigration status. That provision, which has been temporarily blocked, would allow the Supreme Court to reconsider a decision that said a kindergarten to high school education must be provided to illegal immigrants.

The Justice Department has set up a hotline and email address for complaints regarding Alabama's law, and officials said they're coordinating with colleagues in other federal agencies -- including the labor, agriculture, education, and health agencies -- to ensure federal money's not being used to discriminate.

In a news release, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said South Carolina's law "diverts critical law enforcement resources from the most serious threats to public safety and undermines the vital trust between local jurisdictions and the communities they serve, while failing to address the underlying problem: the need for comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level."

The American Civil Liberties Union, which has challenged the similar laws in other states, several weeks ago sued to block the South Carolina law from taking effect in January.

"It definitely puts a spotlight on the issue and heightens our arguments," Andre Segura, an attorney with the ACLU's immigrants' rights project, said Monday.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10 ... z1cQ8jnIF3

Our federal government will do all it can to stop states from enforcing some kind of law/s to help stop illegal immigration while it is obvious they will not enforce their own laws.

But sanctuary cities, in-state tuition for illegals, etc are obviously ok.

Will this country ever become a 'nation of laws' as some politicians like to spout off? One can only hope someday.

Justice Department sues over S. Carolina’s law on immigration

Seeks injunction to halt move

By Stephen Dinan

The Washington Times

Monday, October 31, 2011

The Justice Department sued Monday to block South Carolina’s new immigration crackdown law, making it the third state to face such a challenge from the Obama administration, which argues only the federal government can decide immigration enforcement.

Justice officials said they will request an injunction to block the law from going into effect on Jan. 1.

“It is understandable that communities remain frustrated with the broken immigration system, but a patchwork of state laws is not the solution and will only create problems,â€

South Carolina immigration law sparks suit from Justice Department




By JOSH GERSTEIN | 10/31/11 4:36 PM EDT

The Justice Department filed suit Monday against South Carolina over a recently-passed state law intended to step up local law enforcement efforts against illegal immigrants.

The law, set to take effect Jan. 1, requires police to check the immigration status of everyone they detain and to detain for a “reasonableâ€

Holder sues South Carolina over immigration reform

dailycaller.com
By Neil Munro
Published: 12:13 AM 11/01/2011

The Obama administration has boosted its efforts to bar state-level enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws by suing South Carolina over its new immigration reform law.

The Monday announcement by the Department of Justice follows the news that the Department of Homeland Security has quietly canceled long-standing checks of transportation hubs for illegal immigrants.

Administration officials defended the controversial lawsuit Monday, despite the nation’s unemployment rate of at least 9 percent.


NEW YORK - MAY 17: People rally before an act of civil disobedience to protest against the lack of an immigration reform bill on May 17, 2010 in New York, New York. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

“Today’s lawsuit makes clear once again that the Justice Department will not hesitate to challenge a state’s immigration law, as we have in Arizona, Alabama and South Carolina, if we find that the law interferes with the federal government’s enforcement of immigration,â€

Related Thread (Video)
DOJ Files Suit Against S.C. Immigration Law
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-254188.html

Editorial relating to topic:

I guess immigration laws are made to be broken..

By Bobby Eberle November 1, 2011 7:13 am

Perhaps I should rephrase my headline. From the actions of our federal government, it's not that immigration laws are made to be broken, it's that they are made to not be enforced in the first place.

Read more here: http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-254200.html

Originally Posted by Ratbstard

Editorial relating to topic:

I guess immigration laws are made to be broken..

By Bobby Eberle November 1, 2011 7:13 am

Perhaps I should rephrase my headline. From the actions of our federal government, it's not that immigration laws are made to be broken, it's that they are made to not be enforced in the first place.

Read more here: http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-254200.html

Excellent editorial! Common sense alert!

Related:

U.S. Challenges South Carolina Immigration Law

Tuesday, 01 Nov 2011 12:16 PM

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-254217.html

Added the first article in this thread to the Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-6725--0-0.html