In a battle royal the federal Justice Department is going to court with Arizona over the much debated SB 1070 immigration law.
Scheduled to go into effect July 29th, the Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature approved the law to “investigate the immigration status of anyone they reasonably suspect of being an illegal immigrant” in April. President Obama has publicly denounced the law, arguing that it undermines U.S. foreign policy and violates the U.S. Constitution. Although there are an estimated 10.8 million illegal immigrants that live and work in this country, Democrats and protesters still feel the ruling is racist and unjust.
According to Reuters:
U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton will hear oral arguments on Thursday and could issue a preliminary injunction if she finds that ultimately the Obama administration would succeed in its quest to have the law struck down.
The Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature passed the law in April to try to stem the flood of illegal immigrants and to cut down on drug trafficking and crime.
In a statement the Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer said she was “confident that the court will reject President Obama’s attempt to prevent our state from protecting its citizens as a result of his failure to enforce federal immigration laws.”
“My filing today makes clear that the federal government will suffer no harm if (the law) is implemented because the act requires only that Arizona’s law enforcement officers act in accordance with their constitutional authority and Congressional established federal policy.”
Arizona argued that the government failed to secure the border, that half of all illegal aliens in the United States entered through the state and that illegal immigrants who had committed crimes accounted for 17 percent of the state’s prison population.
