Arizona immigration law to invite many law-suites

ImmigrationAccording to the reports, opponents of Arizona's strict new immigration law say they plan to challenge its constitutionality in court.

The Arizona Republic reported on Sunday that critics say the law would result in racial profiling, give the state immigration enforcement responsibility the Constitution says should be left to the federal government alone and possibly violate constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Proponents defend the legislation, signed Friday by Gov. Jan Brewer, as a legal response to the flood of illegal immigrants in a state where the federal government estimates 460,000 of them live.

It was further reported that the law, which is to take effect 90 days after the legislative session ends, makes failure to have immigration documents a misdemeanor. Local law-enforcement officers, with a "reasonable suspicion" that a person is an undocumented immigrant, will have the authority to ask about immigration status and arrest people who cannot immediately prove they are legally in the United States.

The law has "a number of constitutional flaws" that make it vulnerable to legal challenge, Annie Lai, an Arizona ACLU lawyer, said.

She further said, "The immigration-enforcement provisions do not have adequate safeguards that United States citizens, legal residents, Native Americans and other minorities will not be detained and arrested"

He told administration officials to "closely monitor" the civil-rights implications of the Arizona law, President Barack Obama on Friday said.

The newspaper also said that Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, a Democrat, indicated he intends to sue to challenge the law, and the U. S. Justice Department could also stage a legal intervention. (With Inputs from Agencies)