DOJ Prepares Challenge to AZ Law

Could it be that someone heard the protests? The Justice Department is preparing a legal challenge to Arizona’s controversial immigration law, though Attorney General Eric Holder has not yet decided on a definite course of action. Facing a groundswell of support for similar measures in other states, the challenge claims that the law is unconstitutional because it diminishes the federal government’s authority in policing the United States’ borders. The department's civil rights section is also pondering a suit, claiming that the law essentially ratifies racial profiling. On Wednesday, Holder met with local police chiefs from Arizona who complained that the measure would seriously disrupt police work in the state by further marginalizing Latinos. "The fear of the police already inhibits immigrants from coming forward to a certain extent," one attendee of the meeting said. "But if you add this, you increase the reluctance tenfold.”