Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have filed a lawsuit against Utah, the fourth state so challenged, arguing that the illegal immigration enforcement underway per a recent state law could interfere with people whose immigration status is currently under federal review.
“A patchwork of immigration laws is not the answer and will only create further problems in our immigration system,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.
DOJ contends that Utah “law enforcement could lead to harassment and detention of foreign visitors and legal immigrants who are in the process of having their immigration status reviewed in federal proceedings and whom the federal government has permitted to stay in this country while such proceedings are pending.”
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano said that the Utah law “diverts critical law enforcement resources from the most serious threats to public safety and undermines the vital trust between local jurisdictions and the communities they serve.”
DHS used a similar argument to justify its existing immigration policy. “It makes sense to prioritize our finite resources on removing a Mexican citizen who is wanted for murder in his home country ahead of a Mexican national who is the sole provider for his American citizen spouse,” Napolitano said last month when announcing a policy of prioritization criticized by Republicans as a form of amnesty.
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff believes the law will stand. “We feel strongly that we made significant changes with our law compared to Arizona’s at the time,” he told the Salt Lake Tribune. “We think the way our law is, with our changes, we think we can defend it, that we can prevail on this and have it held constitutional.”
Utah officials suggested that DOJ filed the suit for political reasons. “[DOJ attorneys] basically said there’s an extreme amount of pressure being exerted within the administration to challenge any and all [state illegal immigration] legislation,” said the law’s primary sponsor in the state legislature.
