Groups seek injunction against anti illegal immigrant law

By Jeremy Redmon

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Opponents of Georgia’s tough new immigration enforcement law are asking a federal judge to put the measure on hold pending the outcome of a class-action lawsuit they filed against it last week.

A group of civil rights organizations – including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center -- filed the request for a preliminary injunction in a federal district court in Atlanta Wednesday.

They are seeking a ruling within the next two weeks, arguing the Arizona-style measure is preempted by federal law and is unconstitutional. If Georgia’s law is allowed to take effect on July 1 as scheduled, the plaintiffs argue in a court papers, it would subject people to the risk “unconstitutional and extended detention” while police investigate their immigration status.

Federal judges have put similar laws on hold in Arizona and Utah following court challenges over their constitutionality.

State lawmakers, however, say they crafted Georgia’s new law so it would stand up in court. Supporters, meanwhile, say the measure will help prevent illegal immigrants from burdening the state’s taxpayer-funded public schools, hospitals and jails.

A spokeswoman for Attorney General Sam Olens on Wednesday called the plaintiffs claims unfounded and said her office would vigorously defend the law in court.

“The request for an injunction is just another attempt by special interest groups to block a law which Georgia has every right to enforce,” said Lauren Kane, a spokeswoman for Olens.

Among other things, Georgia’s new law empowers police to investigate the immigration status of suspects they believe have committed state or federal crimes and who cannot produce identification, such as a driver's license, or provide other information that could help police identify them.

The lawsuit says Georgia's law interferes with federal authority over immigration matters, authorizes unreasonable seizures and arrests, restricts peoples' constitutional rights to travel freely in the United States and discriminates against people who hold certain kinds of identity documents.