Help is on the Way! Civil Rights Coalition Challenges Arizona Immigration Law

A coalition of civil rights groups filed a class action lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona challenging Arizona's new immigration law.  The law, the coalition charges, invites the racial profiling, violates the First Amendment, and interferes with federal law. The coalition filing the lawsuit includes the American Civil Liberties Union, Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund, National Immigration Law Center (NILC), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), ACLU of Arizona, National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) – a member of the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice.

Organizations and attorneys on the case, Friendly House et al. v. Whiting et al., include:

ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project: Jadwat, Lucas Guttentag, Cecillia Wang, Tanaz Moghadam and Harini P. Raghupathi;

MALDEF: Viramontes, Tom Saenz, Cynthia Valenzuela Dixon, Nina Perales, Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal, Gladys Limón and Nicholás Espiritu;

NILC: Joaquin, Karen C. Tumlin, Nora A. Preciado, Melissa S. Keaney, Vivek Mittal and Ghazal Tajmiri; ACLU Foundation of Arizona: Dan Pochoda and Annie Lai;

APALC: Su, Ronald Lee, Yungsuhn Park, Connie Choi and Carmina Ocampo;

NDLON: Chris Newman and Lisa Kung;

NAACP: Laura Blackburne; Munger Tolles & Olson LLP: Bradley S. Phillips, Paul J. Watford, Elizabeth J. Neubauer,Joseph J. Ybarra, Susan T. Boyd and Yuval Miller; and

Roush, Mccracken, Guerrero, Miller & Ortega: Daniel R. Ortega, Jr.

The complaint can be found here.

KJ