The city of Phoenix is considering suing Arizona over a controversial new immigration law signed into law on Friday.
The legislation requires law enforcement to demand immigration papers from anyone who they have a “reasonable suspicion” is in the country illegally.
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon told the Arizona Republic that the City Council will consider an item tomorrow that would direct their city attorney “to prepare a lawsuit asking for an injunction on this law and challenging it on constitutional grounds.” He also called the new law “unconstitutional” and “unenforceable.”
On Fox News this morning, Gordon said the new law “doesn’t make the state any safer.” If anything, Gordon said, “it actually makes it less safe.”
That’s because police officers may be caught up in enforcing the new law, Gordon said, and, fearing lawsuits over failing to enforce the law or in unfairly enforcing it since there’s no functional definition of “reasonable suspicion,” may have less time to focus on violent crime and the drug trade.
Gordon also worried that the new law will create “a division within the state that could lead to violence.”
Last week, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) called for a boycott of his home state if it didn’t disavow the legislation, which he called “fundamentally racist.” Grijalva then closed two of his Arizona offices early Friday after receiving death threats. The offices are back open today.
