SB1070 Update: SEIU joins legal challenge to SB1070

by David Safier

Saying "SB1070 Violates Federal Government's Authority over U.S. Immigration Law, First Amendment, and other Core Civil Rights," the SEIU has joined in the lawsuit challenging SB1070.

SEIU Joins as Plaintiff with Labor and Civil Rights Groups in Major Legal Challenge of SB1070

Washington D.C.—Today, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) joined the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), and other civil rights organizations as a leading plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Arizona's extreme, costly immigration law, SB1070. The class action lawsuit—filed today by the American Civil Liberties Union, MALDEF, the NAACP, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), and other major rights groups—charges that SB1070 violates the First Amendment and interferes with federal law and is therefore unenforceable.  

“Arizona’s new immigration law is a flawed solution to a serious problem,” said SEIU Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina. “If implemented, the law will violate our most basic civil rights, burden local law enforcement and undermine public safety—all while failing to solve Arizona's immigration problems. By filing this complaint today, we hope to stop the law before it institutionalizes racial profiling, pushes an unfunded mandate on cities and counties already strapped for cash, and wastes precious taxpayer resources on the costly litigation that will inevitably ensue.”

The lawsuit charges that the Arizona law unlawfully interferes with federal power and authority over immigration matters in violation of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution; invites racial profiling against people of color by law enforcement in violation of the equal protection guarantee and prohibition on unreasonable seizures under the Fourteenth and Fourth Amendments; violated the privileges and immunities clause of the U.S. Constitution; and infringes on the free speech rights of day laborers and others in Arizona. The lawsuit also charges that the law violates the Arizona Constitution's prohibition on investigatory stops by law enforcement without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.

“This extreme, ineffective law has already made Arizona a lightning rod for hate, bigotry and intolerance.” continued Medina. “On behalf of working families in Arizona and on behalf of American values of fairness and equality, SEIU is pushing back in the courts, in the field and through a union-wide boycott to stop this harmful law before it goes into effect.”
 
In addition to today's lawsuit, SEIU recently joined labor civil rights groups to boycott conventions and other major events in the state. Until the law is invalidated, SEIU will continue to reach out to labor partners, representatives of federal, state and local governments, student groups, religious groups and other major U.S. institutions to urge them to pull their business out of Arizona.
 
“Until we see a comprehensive fix to our immigration problems, enforcement-only bills like SB 1070 will continue to make the problems worse, not better. The only way to ensure that every job in this country is filled by a legal permanent resident is to get undocumented immigrants out of the underground economy, into the system and under the rule of law. Anything else will just waste taxpayer funds and perpetuate the same failed status quo,” Medina concluded.
 
In addition to SEIU and SEIU Local 5 in Arizona, the lawsuit was filed on behalf the United Food and Commercial Workers International (UFCW), Arizona South Asians for Safe Families (ASAFSF), Southside Presbyterian Church, Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Asian Chamber of Commerce of Arizona, Muslim American Society, and other social justice organizations and individuals who will be subject to harassment or arrest under the law.

For more information or to receive a copy of the the federal class action lawsuit, contact Ali.Jost@seiu.org. To learn more about SEIU's boycott of Arizona, go to www.ItStopsInArizona.com.