For the last two months, community groups across Arizona have been calling for the Department of Justice to take legal action against the state’s newest threat to public safety: SB1070. To the relief of many, the Department of Justice announced today its decision to file suit against the law.

“We are relieved to see the Obama administration take serious action against 1070’s encroachment on federal powers,” said Jennifer Allen, Executive Director of the Border Action Network, a human rights community group in Arizona.  “Controlling immigration is a federal responsibility. The federal government had to step up and challenge Arizona’s attempt to undermine the federal government’s constitutional obligations.”

In the months since Arizona Governor Brewer signed SB1070 into law on April 23rd, several organizations, including Border Action Network, the ACLU and MALDEF, have filed lawsuits against it.  For nearly two months, President Obama, Secretary Napolitano, and Attorney General Holder have criticized the new law, but today’s lawsuit is the first action to support those criticisms.  In the meantime, nearly 30 states across the US have expressed interest in replicating the law.

“This law is bad for Arizona and would be disastrous for the rest of the country to replicate,” said Allen.  Her group and others anxiously await the court’s response to a request for an injunction before the law’s implementation date on July 29th.

“We are already seeing and hearing immigrant and Latino families who are afraid to call on law enforcement. This fear frays the relationship between law enforcement and communities and makes their jobs more difficult.”

Though Border Action commends the Department of Justice’s suit against SB1070, they urge the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to take action against similar federal programs and policies that blur the lines of authority between federal and local officials to enforce immigration laws, including the 2002 DOJ Office of Legal Counsel memo that allows for greater state authority on immigration law enforcement and the 287(g) agreement in Maricopa County, AZ that has resulted in human rights abuses.  Furthermore, the Department of Homeland Security should suspend all 287(g) agreements with the state of Arizona pending the outcome of the Department of Justice's lawsuit.