Already engaged in legal battles over immigration legislation recently passed in Alabama and Arizona, the Justice Department is also considering filing suits against other states for enacting similar laws.
DOJ lawyers are debating whether to challenge laws passed in South Carolina, Georgia, Utah and Indiana, according to a report in Friday’s Washington Post.
The Obama administration has argued that many of the laws discriminate against lawful Hispanic Americans citizens, and that immigration law is not for states to decide.
“We can’t have a patchwork of 50 states with 50 different immigration laws,” the President said Wednesday.
Legal analysts told the Post that the administration’s interventions are unprecedented, because human rights groups have already filed or are planning to file suits against states that have passed sweeping immigration legislation.
A federal judge earlier this week upheld most of a controversial Alabama immigration law. The law, Alabama H.B. 56, was challenged by the Department of Justice in a lawsuit filed Aug. 1.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Blackburn ruled that the part of legislation allowing state law enforcement officials to stop and detain people suspected of having entered the country without proper documentation, and the section requiring schools to verify the immigration status of its students, are both constitutional.
It is likely that the Department of Justice will appeal the decision. Last year, it challenged Arizona’s controversial immigration law with some success, although the legal battle has not yet reached a conclusion. Courts largely blocked Arizona’s law, known as S.B. 1070, from coming into effect in July 2010. A Justice Department spokesperson said the department is reviewing the decision but added it will not hesitate to challenge laws that usurp federal authority over immigration.
