The Obama Administration has challenged immigration laws of certain states, which are perceived as overly strict. Specifically, the Justice Department has sued Arizona and Alabama over state immigration laws. According to media reports, federal lawyers are talking to Utah officials about a third possible lawsuit and are considering legal challenges in Georgia, Indiana and South Carolina.
In July 2010, the Obama administration sued Arizona over the state’s new immigration law. The Arizona law, which had been signed by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) in April 2010, was designed to give police the power to question anyone who they have a “reasonable suspicion” is an illegal immigrant. In the lawsuit, the Justice Department alleged that the Arizona law cracking down on illegal immigrants conflicts with federal law, would disrupt immigration enforcement and would lead to racial profiling and police harassment of those who cannot prove their lawful status. The lawsuit also said the state's measure is unconstitutional, and asked a judge to stop it from taking effect. After a protracted legal battle, a federal appeals court in April 2011 upheld a lower court’s decision that the most contested provisions of the Arizona immigration law be blocked from taking effect, handing the Obama administration a victory in its efforts to overturn the legislation. However, similar laws have been approved in 2011 in Alabama, Utah, Georgia, Indiana and South Carolina. At least 17 other states have considered such measures in 2011.
In August 2011, the Department of Justice challenged Alabama immigration law, citing conflict with enforcement of federal immigration laws: “Alabama’s law is designed to affect virtually every aspect of an unauthorized immigrant’s daily life, from employment to housing to transportation to entering into and enforcing contracts to going to school. [The law] further criminalizes mere unlawful presence and, like Arizona’s law, expands the opportunities for Alabama police to push aliens toward incarceration for various new immigration crimes by enforcing an immigration status verification system.”
However, on September 28, 2011, a federal judge upheld most of the sections of Alabama’s immigration law that had been challenged by the Obama administration, including portions that had been blocked in other states. The only parts blocked by Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn of Federal District Court in Birmingham were a broad provision that outlawed the harboring or transporting of illegal immigrants and another that barred illegal immigrants from enrolling in or attending public universities. However, for the most part the judge rejected the reasoning of district and appeals courts that had blocked similar portions of Arizona’s law. The judge upheld a section that requires state and local law enforcement officials to try to verify a person’s immigration status during routine traffic stops or arrests, if “a reasonable suspicion” exists that the person is in the country illegally, and ruled that a section that criminalized the “willful failure” of a person in the country illegally to carry federal immigration papers did not pre-empt federal law. Although the decision can be appealed in the U.S. Supreme Court, at the moment Alabama has by far the strictest immigration law in the United States.
Also on September 28, 2011, President Obama held a roundtable for Latino reporters at the White House, in what was seen as an attempt to win over the Hispanic vote before the 2012 presidential election. President Obama reiterated that immigration reform remains a “top priority” for his Administration. While emphasizing his support for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, President Obama noted that he lacks support from Republicans in Congress, which is needed to pass such legislations. During the roundtable, President Obama also defended his administration’s record on deportations, arguing that the government was focused on deporting illegal immigrants who have criminal records and not those who abide by the country’s laws and are contributing positively to society.
These developments come as the Obama Administration seeks to reform the U.S. immigration system. In August 2011, the White House and the Department of Homeland Security unveiled the new deportation policy, which involves identifying low-priority removal cases that should be considered for a favorable exercise of prosecutorial discretion, while focusing on deportation of convicted felons and public security threats.
Attorneys at I.S. Law Firm have helped many immigrants to avoid deportation and legalize their status in the United States. To explore your immigration options, please contact us at 703-527-1779 or by e-mail: law@islawfirm.com.
