Governor Brewer takes hard line!
True to their word, the Department of Justice followed through on their promise to file a Civil Lawsuit against the State of Arizona and Governor Brewer (in her official capacity) in a bold-faced effort to strike down a new Arizona Immigration Reform Law which has caused a lot of hysteria around the country in recent days.
In the body of their “slim” complaint, filed with the court yesterday, the Government asserted in no uncertain terms that Arizona Officials overstepped their bounds when they sought to enact a law that would grant sweeping powers to Law Enforcement in dealing with the troubling illegal immigrant problem in Arizona which has reached epic proportions.
The “Immigration Reform Law’ was originally denounced because critics alleged that it granted wide authority to Law Enforcement Officers that may lead to racial profiling - and ultimately - disturbing Civil Rights violations.
Specifically, the law would allow Police Officers to question a suspect about their legal status on a legitimate stop in traffic or on a public street if certain criteria raised red flags.
A directive stipulates that an officer may pursue a line of questioning regarding their right to be in the country, for example, if the individual is (i) combative for no good reason when stopped; (ii) wearing long sleeves on an intensely hot day; (iii) clearly out-of-place in the environment (and so forth and so on).
Just yesterday, President Obama underscored at a news conference that the Law has the “potential” for abuse.
Innocent Citizens may be victimized because of the color of their skin, for example.
Curiously, in spite of those concerns, the actual “complaint” does not make much mention of the racial profiling issue.
In fact, the main thrust of the argument rests on the “Supremacy Clause”.
The Government has essentially taken the stance that Arizona’s Immigration Reform Law seeks to usurp their power and intrude on their turf.
It is quite a conundrum, actually.
Ironically, the Government - in effect - has filed a suit against a Law that has not got into effect that was enacted because Washington was not doing its job enforcing legally-binding Immigration Laws currently in force.
It is not a slam dunk for the Government!
Lawyers for the Department of Justice have attacked the Law on its “face”.
The Government may be doing things ass backwards.
Normally, a law is enacted, and goes into efflect.
Once in force, when issues of Constitutionality arise - let’s say - legal action is taken to rectify the problem, strike down the law, etc.
Legal analysts argue that it would have been wiser for the Govrnment to wait until an incident warranted legal action.
At this juncture - a Judge may be inclined to rule:
"Let's see how it goes."
Then, dismiss without prejudice.
Arizona’s Governor maintains a hard line regarding the new Immigration Law.
The strong-willed politician takes the position that Arizona had no other alternativebut to take the action they did, because the Government was failing (neglecting?) to meet its responsibilities in enforcing border control, and ultimately, Immigration laws in general.
Contrary to the Government’s position on the matter, supporters of the Law in Arizona stress that their bill compliments U.S. Immigration Laws and does not in any way, shape, or form negatively impact them.
I already said my piece, so there!
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