Thaindian News

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) – Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano on Tuesday said that the Justice Department will review the recently passed Arizona anti-illegal immigration law, the American Civil Liberties Union said.

Secretary Napolitano stated that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deep concerns with the law’s effects and that such broad immigration enforcement may detract and siphon resources away from ICE’s priority of focusing on the most serious criminals during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has expressed their opposition of the Arizona law, believing it will result in racial and ethnic profiling and alienate immigrant communities from cooperating with the police.

“If there’s ever a time for the Obama administration to step in and take a stand for fairness and equality, the time is now. We call on the Obama administration to take every step within its power to make sure this abhorrent, discriminatory law never takes effect,” Omar Jadwat, a staff attorney with the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, said.

The Arizona law requires law enforcement to question individuals who appear to be illegal aliens upon reasonable suspicion about their immigration status during everyday police encounters. If the individual fails to demonstrate proof of his or her lawful residence in the U.S., the individual is subject to arrest without warrant. The law has generated concern that it could create new immigration crimes and penalties inconsistent with those in federal law.