The Obama administration set up a legal battle over states' rights and heightened the political stakes on immigration for both parties by filing a suit to block Arizona's tough new immigration law.
The law, which is set to take effect July 29, makes illegal immigration a state crime and requires police to verify the immigration status of people stopped for other alleged crimes. State lawmakers said they were acting because the federal government has failed to protect the state's border with Mexico from encroachment by illegal immigrants.
Supporters of the law say it is needed to discourage people from crossing into and remaining in the state illegally. Its passage came after years of frustration with the porous southern border, kidnappings and murder.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer called the federal lawsuit "a massive waste of taxpayer funds" and said the money "could be better used against the violent Mexican cartels than the people of Arizona."
Indeed, some supporters of Tuesday's lawsuit said it brings political risks for the president and his party in competitive states. In Colorado, for example, a recent poll found that 61% of respondents wanted an Arizona-style law for their state. The GOP front-runner for governor, Scott McInnis, supports the Arizona law and vowed to sign a similar measure in Colorado. His likely opponent, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, said he would veto such a measure.
In Arizona, where the law has wide support, even Democrats said that suing the state would not be productive. Instead, they have called on the federal government to address the broken immigration system and bolster security.
"The lawsuit is misdirected,'' said Democratic Rep. Harry Mitchell, in an interview Tuesday. "It will not solve anything...Our time would be much better spent fixing these problems.''
Legal experts say the weakest part of the Arizona law is language that makes unlawful presence in the country a state crime. That appears to conflict with federal law, which makes unlawful presence a civil offense but does not classify it as a crime, legal experts say.
But some supporters say the Arizona law has strengths that could provide courts the opportunity to block only some parts of the law, while keeping much of it intact. The law allows other sections to stand even if a portion were to be declared unconstitutional.
Federal law doesn't expressly pre-empt states from passing statutes governing immigrants, said John Eastman, dean of the Chapman University Law School and an unsuccessful candidate for California state attorney general this year. He said the most important part of the Arizona law, allowing state law enforcement to enforce federal law, could survive even if much of the law were thrown out. "I like the chances of succeeding over the Justice Department," he said.
In our UK View it looks like the Big Brother and Kenyan born President Obama is trying to undermine the will of the people and their sovereignty of Sovereign States in a similar way as the EU has done to the European Democracies.by claiming such a law is unconstitutional , WELL THAT'S RICH! Coming from a unconstitutional President, who I believe was not born on American soil , so is therefore not entitled to hold the office of President anyway!
I can only urge the people of the American States to battle the Federal Government as your freedoms will be eroded in the pursuit of a multi cultural Marxist Islamic hellhole as we are now suffering!
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