Obama administration sues Arizona over strict new immigration law

divert critical law enforcement resources and would cause the “detention and harassment of authorized visitors, immigrants and citizens” who do not have to carry identification papers, the department said.

Some immigration provisions provide exceptions to illegal immigrants on humanitarian grounds, whether the individuals were fleeing natural disasters or political persecution, the Justice Department added.

The Obama administration warned in the lawsuit that other states were considering similar immigration measures which would result in “further and significant damage” to U.S. relations with countries like Mexico, which last month joined a lawsuit seeking to derail the Arizona law.

Mexico’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday expressed “satisfaction” at the Obama administration’s move to challenge the state law. “The Mexican government will continue to follow this process closely, and stands by its firm commitment to protect the rights of Mexicans abroad,” the ministry said in a statement.

Reuters quotes a Justice Department official to say that if the court refused an injunction, the federal government would closely monitor enforcement of the Arizona law for possible illegal racial profiling or other civil rights violations.

Obama has warned that the Arizona law could lead to a patchwork of different laws passed by the various U.S. states and said that the matter should be resolved at the federal level by Congress.

The U.S. president last week gave his first major speech on immigration reform since taking office, calling for both parties to join together to pass a comprehensive measure, but the issue has largely been overshadowed by the economic crisis and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill (“Obama to deliver major speech on immigration today,” 1 July 2010 HSNW).

Obama has backed allowing undocumented immigrants in good standing to pay a fine, learn English and become citizens. He also has supported tightening border security and clamping down on employers that hire undocumented workers.

Opposing Republicans have said that border security must be significantly improved before dealing with the millions of illegal immigrants, many of them Hispanics, in the country.

Obama has pledged to spend an extra $600 million and send up to 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to tighten security, however the initial steps to do so have been criticized by Republicans as too little to address the matter (“More UAVs, personnel, money for U.S.-Mexico border protection,” 25 June 2010 HSNW).

The suit came after the U.S. Supreme Court said last week that it would decide whether another Arizona law that punishes employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants infringed on federal immigration powers.

The case is United States of America v. State of Arizona et al; Case No. 10-cv-1413 in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.