Lawsuit challenges Utah immigration law

The National Immigration Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Utah, and the law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olsen have filed a class action lawsuit charging that Utah’s recently passed law, HB 497, authorizes police to demand “papers” demonstrating citizenship or immigration status during traffic stops, invites racial profiling of Latinos and others who appear “foreign” to an officer, and interferes with federal law. The organizations claim the new Utah law is similar to Arizona’s immigration law SB 1070. Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed the law on March 15.
The lawsuit charges that the Utah law is unconstitutional in that it unlawfully interferes with federal power and authority over immigration matters in violation of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution; authorizes and requires unreasonable seizures and arrests in violation of the Fourth Amendment; restricts the constitutional right to travel freely throughout the U.S.; violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution by unlawfully discriminating against certain lawful immigrants as well as people in Utah without approved identify documents; and violates the Utah state constitutional guarantee of uniform operation of the laws.
The lawsuit was filed May 3 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah on behalf of civil rights, labor, social justice, and business organizations, including Utah Coalition of La Raza, Service Employees International Union, Latin American Chamber of Commerce, Workers’ United Rocky Mountain Joint Board, Centro Civico Mexicano, Coalition of Utah Progressives, individually named plaintiffs who would be subject to harassment or arrest under the law, and a class of similarly situated people.