Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Joining a complaint by one of its own police officers, the city of Tucson has legally filed its opposition to Arizona’s new immigration law. Tucson officials contend that they lack the funding and police resources to enforce the state law, which requires anyone stopped by law enforcement to show proof of citizenship or legal residency.
Tucson also argues that the new law is unconstitutional and conflicts with federal authority over immigration. The law “mandates the detention and verification of the immigration status of arrestees without any reasonable suspicion, probable cause or other independent legal basis for continued detention in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” reads the cross-complaint.
The complaint also says the law “may result in decreased investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against persons and other major felonies,” and that it “mandates the detention and verification of the immigration status of arrestees regardless of other more urgent police duties and thereby usurps the local discretion over the exercise of the police power.”
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky
Tucson Says No Means to Enforce Immigration Law (by Jamie Ross, Courthouse News Service)
Martin Escobar v. Jan Brewer (U.S. District Court, Arizona) (pdf)
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