Concerns that police officers would unfairly enforce a new law aren’t enough to challenge Prince William County‘s crackdown on illegal immigration, a federal judge has ruled in an order dismissing a lawsuit against the county.
U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris said in his ruling issued this week that there was no proof the plaintiffs could prove any injury from the county’s policy.
The lawsuit, brought by more than 20 Hispanic Prince William residents, argued the controversial policy directing police officers to check the immigration status of traffic violators and misdemeanor offenders violated the defendants’ rights to equal treatment.
The case hinged not on whether the policy itself violated the defendants’ constitutional rights, but on whether its possible enforcement against them would be unfair and unconstitutional.
“The threat to these plaintiffs … is too speculative to rise to the level of injury,” Cacheris wrote in his decision.
Assuming the plaintiffs would be stopped and then illegally detained and unlawfully questioned was too “remote and conjectural” to grant them standing in the case, he wrote.
“However, if discriminatory enforcement occurs, or if detentions are extended unlawfully, the parties who suffer those injuries will then have standing,” he said.
Prince William County Attorney Ross Horton praised the verdict, saying Cacheris made the “correct decision.”
Attorneys for the plaintiffs are still considering an appeal and plan to monitor police conduct after they begin implementing the policy, said Eduardo Ferrer, the lead plaintiffs’ attorney.
“All it means are these plaintiffs are not the right ones,” Ferrer said. “We are talking to people in the community and waiting until we have plaintiffs [who] comport with Judge Cacheris’ view of what a good plaintiff would look like in this case.”
Prince William County Chairman Corey Stewart hailed the decision, saying it shows the county’s law is defensible in court, but acknowledged that more legal challenges are sure to come.
The county is still preparing for the policy’s implementation next year, with police training classes set to begin Jan. 2.
