PHOENIX
(By
Peter Nicholas, LAT)
June 26, 2010
— A White House showdown with the
state of Arizona over its tough new immigration law is likely to unfold
next week, when the Obama administration is expected to file a lawsuit
aimed at blocking the state's bid to curb illegal immigration on its
own, according to people familiar with the administration's plans.
Arizona officials are girding for the legal challenge.
The state has raised $123,000 in
private donations to defend the law, according to Gov. Jan Brewer's
office. Money has come in from all 50 states, in donations as little as
$1.
Obama administration officials declined to reveal the basis for the
suit.
But legal experts say the challenge
is likely to include the argument that in passing the law, Arizona
violated the Constitution by intruding on the federal government's
authority to regulate immigration.
To date, the state has been hit with five lawsuits. The law, SB 1070,
was signed in April and is scheduled to go into effect July 29.
By confronting Arizona, the Obama administration would be making a
political statement as much as a legal one. Obama has already criticized
the Arizona law as "misdirected." Criminal action against illegal
immigrants is not, by itself, a satisfactory solution to the nation's
dysfunctional immigration system, the White House says.
Obama has said part of the remedy must include a path to legal status
for the estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally. But
with mid-term elections approaching, the president has not made the
politically explosive issue a legislative priority for 2010.
Brewer and other Republican officials have recoiled at the prospect of a
federal suit.
"Perhaps the administration should focus on getting the assets they
promised to the border region rather than wasting time and taxpayer
dollars on suing the state of Arizona," said Brooke Buchanan, a
spokeswoman for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
The Obama administration tipped its hand on its plans earlier this month
when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in an Ecuadoran
television interview that a lawsuit was coming.
Outraged, Brewer said the
administration should "inform us before it informs the citizens of
another nation."
The Arizona law empowers police, after making a lawful stop, to verify
the immigration status of people they reasonably suspect are in the
country illegally.
Opponents warn the law could be easily abused — enforced in a fashion
that unfairly targets Latinos.
Lucas Guttentag, director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project and an
attorney who is part of a group of civil rights organizations contesting
the law, said: "A legal challenge by the Justice Department would help
ensure that Arizona's renegade state law, which will cause racial
profiling and undermine effective law enforcement, does not actually go
into effect."
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