Civil rights groups ask court to block immigration law

by Dustin Gardiner -
Jun. 5, 2010 09:52 AM
The Arizona Republic

A group of civil rights organizations is asking a federal court to block the implementation of Arizona's hot-button immigration law until it rules on the law's constitutionality.

The law, SB1070, which goes into effect July 29, makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally.

Groups behind a lawsuit challenging SB1070 say it would promote racial profiling of Latinos and violates numerous parts of the Constitution, including the First and Fourth amendments.

In a filing entered in U.S. District Court on Friday, the coalition argues that delaying implementation of the law would discourage other states from enacting similar "piecemeal and inconsistent immigration standards" until the court can make a ruling.

"The proponents of nearly a dozen 'copycat' laws are waiting for the outcome of this litigation to decide whether to propose their own immigration enforcement schemes," the motion states.

Lawmakers in Idaho, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Utah and Minnesota have discussed pursuing similar legislation.

Arizona's law states that a police officer engaged in a lawful stop, detention or arrest shall, when practicable, ask about a person's legal status if reasonable suspicion exists that the person is in the U.S. illegally.

Participants in the lawsuit include the American Civil Liberties Union, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, National Immigration Law Center and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Their case is one of at least five challenging the law.

Other lawsuits have been filed by the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders; Tucson Officer Martin Escobar; Phoenix Officer David Salgado; and Roberto Javier Frisancho, a naturalized citizen and Washington, D.C., resident who is planning to visit the state for research on an 1997 illegal immigration roundup in Chandler.

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