The US government filed suit on Tuesday against Arizona in a bid to block the state’s controversial immigration law which US President Barack Obama’s administration has slammed.
A Justice Department statement said the state law hampered the authority of the Obama administration to enforce national immigration policy.
Federal laws do not permit the development of a “patchwork of state and local immigration policies,” it said.
“Setting immigration policy and enforcing immigration laws is a national responsibility,” US Attorney General Eric Holder said in the statement.
Arizona, the Justice Department said, “crossed a constitutional line.”
The Arizona law, scheduled to take effect on July 29, makes it a crime to be in the state without proper immigration papers.
It also requires local police, who are not federal agents responsible for immigration matters, to determine if people are in the country legally. Many critics charge that will fuel ethnic profiling.
US officials said they took the action after consulting with various law enforcement departments, chiefs of police, civil rights groups and other local officials.
Many said they were concerned the law would make victims of crimes or witnesses “less likely to contact or cooperate with law enforcement” if they did not possess proper legal papers. Critics also charge the law will prod local police to single out for questioning people they think appear not to be American.
Officials in Arizona argue they have been overrun by illegal immigrants, leading to a spike in the crime rate and straining state resources. They say the measure was necessary only because of lax federal government enforcement of the southern US border.
“Arizonans are understandably frustrated with illegal immigration, and the federal government has a responsibility to comprehensively address those concerns,” Holder said.
However, he added, “diverting federal resources away from dangerous aliens such as terrorism suspects and aliens with criminal records will impact the entire country’s safety.”
Arizona’s two US senators slammed the lawsuit.
“The American people must wonder whether the Obama administration is really committed to securing the border when it sues a state that is simply trying to protect its people by enforcing immigration law,” Republicans John McCain and Jon Kyl said.
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