Civil rights groups announced a joint lawsuit against Arizona law
“Today the three most experienced organizations in defending civil rights in the nation have gathered to announce an effort to challenge the legitimacy of the state law SB1070,” said Thomas A. Saenz, president of MALDEF in news conference outside the Capitol in Phoenix.
Saenz described the new rules as “unconstitutional” and “discriminatory” and said it violated the civil rights of Latinos in Arizona, regardless of immigration status.
MALDEF President told Efe that there is still no date for filing the lawsuit but could be next month.
“This state law will only increase so rampant practice of racial profiling that exists in Arizona,” said Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of ACLU in Arizona.
He added that the time it enters into force, possibly in August, all people will have to carry documentation proving their status in the U.S. at the time of taking to the streets to avoid arrest.
“It a very sad moment in the history of our country when the police is forced to ask for documents to people in the streets, “he said the activist.
A coalition of advocacy groups civil rights and immigrants warned that there are many constitutional problems with the SB1070 because it violates the clause of interference with the power of the federal government to practice immigration law.
According to Dolores Huerta, co-founder of Farm Workers (UFW) in Arizona is attacking an entire segment of the population, in this case Latinos.
“We must not retreat even an inch to the efforts Arizona to accuse our community of all the ills of this state and its efforts to get us out of here, “defended the activist.
He said that Latinos have worked the land in Arizona, constructed and maintained its buildings and sacrificed so much like any other group.
Mexican-American singer Linda Ronstadt also joined the chorus condemning the legislation enacted by the Governor Jan Brewer on Friday.
“What the governor signed Brewer is a law that threatens the heart of this great state, we must unite and prevent the SB1070 put neighbor against neighbor and harms us all,” said artist.
Notice of ACLU, MALDEF and NILC coincided with the introduction of the first two lawsuits against state law.
This morning, National Coalition of Clergy and Christian Leaders (CONLAMIC) filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in Phoenix against the implementation of the SB1070.
While in the Federal Court in the city Tucd54son, now also Martin H. Escobar, agent of the Police Department of the City of Tucson, filed a lawsuit SB1070 ensures that violates numerous constitutional rights and becomes an obstacle for the police to do its work, particularly in Latino neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, Robert N. Shelton, president of the University of Arizona (UA) in Tucson, reported that several students, many of them with honors, have threatened to leave the institution and move to another state before the adoption of the law.
The new regulation provides the functions of immigration officers to police departments and penalizes those who give work to the laborers on the streets and transport an illegal immigrant, among other provisions.