Global Immigration Blog : Immigration Lawyers & Attorneys : Jackson Lewis Law Firm : Labor Certification, Adjustment of Status

The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has filed a lawsuit against the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, and its well known County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, for his refusal to hand over documents in the DOJ’s long running civil rights probe. The complaint alleges that the Sheriff’s Office is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by refusing to fully cooperate with the DOJ’s investigation into the Sheriff’s Office’s police practices and jail operations.

The DOJ’s investigation into the Sheriff dates back to the Bush Administration, which started investigating allegations of civil rights violations by the Sheriff’s Office in June 2008. The investigation has focused on allegations that the Sheriff’s Office violated Title VI’s prohibition on national origin discrimination by engaging in a pattern or practice of discriminatory law enforcement conduct.

The DOJ’s lawsuit is the most recent in a series of immigration-related lawsuits filed this year in the federal district court in Arizona. (See Another Lawsuit Filed Challenging Arizona's Senate Bill 1070.) Following enactment of the highly controversial Senate Bill 1070, at least six separate lawsuits were filed in federal court challenging Senate Bill 1070 on a variety of bases. On July 28, Judge Susan Bolton enjoined several provisions of the Bill. The State of Arizona immediately appealed Judge Bolton’s decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeal is currently pending.

Finally, the case challenging the Legal Arizona Workers Act (the 2008 bill that established the requirement that all Arizona employers use E-Verify for all new hires) is currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Jackson Lewis will let you know when the Court issues its decision in that case.
 

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On July 22, Judge Susan Bolton of the U.S. District Court in Phoenix heard arguments in two of the most highly publicized challenges to Arizona Senate Bill 1070: (1) the lawsuit filed by a coalition of civil rights groups and labor unions; and (2) the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”). The plaintiffs in both seek to enjoin SB 1070 from taking effect on July 29, 2010.

Judge Bolton does not intend to enjoin SB 1070 in its entirety. Stating that she considers SB 1070 to be an “enactment,” combining new laws and amending existing laws, rather than a “statute,” Bolton indicated she was considering whether to block all or parts of certain key provisions of SB 1070 and steered attorneys toward the more questionable portions of those provisions.

Judge Bolton voiced concerns regarding portions of SB 1070, including a provision that allows law enforcement officers to make warrantless arrests of people suspected of committing offenses that make them “removable from the United States.” At the hearing, Judge Bolton asked: “How can a police officer make a determination that a person has committed a removable offense when that decision can only be made by a federal judge?”

Attorneys for the DOJ argued that the provisions of SB 1070 are pre-empted by federal law. The agency’s lawsuit alleges that SB 1070 “will conflict and undermine the federal government’s care balance of immigration-enforcement priorities and objectives.”

Judge Bolton did not make any rulings at the hearings and has not said when she will issue a ruling. With the statute set to take effect in days, it is anticipated that she will rule quickly. Jackson Lewis will continue to monitor the legal developments surrounding SB 1070.
 

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