WASHINGTON — The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union here on Monday said it has joined in a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Arizona's new immigration law. Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the Service Employees International Union and various civil rights organizations.
The complaint alleges that federal immigration law preempts local laws on the basis of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution; that legal foreign travelers in Arizona could be detained and interrogated; and that the law, S.B. 1070, violates freedom of speech and freedom of assembly rights by prohibiting individuals from seeking work in a public place, among other allegations.
“We believe S.B. 1070 is unconstitutional, un-American and that it undermines our nation’s rich immigrant history," said Joe Hansen, president of the UFCW, in a prepared release. "The law effectively legalizes racial profiling and sanctions harassment and discrimination. We need a comprehensive overhaul of our broken immigration system at the federal level, not regressive, racially motivated laws enacted on a state-by-state basis.”
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