DOJ Sues Arizona Over Immigration Practices, Again
The Justice Department filed another suit Monday against Arizona for immigration actions by its officials, claiming a network of community colleges engaged in illegal discriminatory practices toward noncitizens.
Justice officials said Phoenix-area Maricopa Community Colleges violated the federal Immigration and Nationality Act by requiring noncitizens to provide green cards before they could be hired, the Washington Post reported. The suit argues the community colleges went beyond the legal requirements for determining eligibility status in its requirements of nearly 250 noncitizen job applicants, the Washington Post reported:
“„The law’s antidiscrimination provision “makes it unlawful to treat authorized workers differently during the hiring process based on their citizenship status,” said Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for Justice’s Civil Rights Division. He said the government “is acting now to remedy this pattern or practice of discrimination.” [...]
“„It is the latest example of stepped-up enforcement by the department’s Civil Rights Division, which has been reshaping itself after an exodus of lawyers during the Bush administration. It filed a similiar lawsuit in April against John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
Arizona authorities already face a Justice Department lawsuit against the state’s SB 1070 immigration law. Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the controversial head of law enforcement in Maricopa County, is under investigation by the Justice Department for allegations of discrimination.
