Miami, June 18.- The U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton said that the administration of President Barack Obama will sue the state of Arizona for the SB 1070 immigration law passed last April.
Clinton, who announced the news in a local TV station in Quito, Ecuador on June 8, but was released on June 17 by the American Civil Liberties organization, explained that Mr. Obama has declared on several occasions that he is against the law, and that “he thinks that the federal government should be determining immigration policy”
“The Justice Department, under his direction, will be bringing a lawsuit against the act”, she added in the interview.
The SB 1070 immigration law passed in Arizona gives power to police to ask anyone suspected of having entered the country illegally, about their immigration status. The rule is scheduled to take effect on July 29.
The governor of the state of Arizona Jan Brewer, who signed the law on April 23, was not pleased by the news. Brewer said in a press release that "If our own government intends to sue our state to prevent illegal immigration enforcement, the least it can do is inform us before it informs the citizens of another nation".
The U.S. Justice Department has not denied Clinton’s statements and spokesman Matthew Miller said the institution "continues to review the law'' and declined to comment further.
However, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Obama and Clinton have both made it clear that the administration opposes the law.
The SB1070 has deepened divisions in the country, while some states are planning to implement similar laws others have said that they will never pass comparable legislature.
Adding to the controversy, a recent poll by the Washington Post, says that 58 percent of the American population supports the possibility of empowering the police to ask anyone about their immigration status, while 41 percent objects.
Even small towns like Fremont in the state of Nebraska, with just 25 000 residents, have called for a emergency municipal meeting with the intention of adopting a city ordinance that would prohibit harboring, hiring or renting to undocumented immigrants.
At the same time various pro-immigrant organizations have described the law as "racist." During the months of May and June there have been hundreds of protests in several capitals of the United States.
Even several cities through their mayors and representatives have begun a "boycott" against the state of Arizona. Many have paralyzed their commercial and private relationships to force Arizona to retract from implementing the SB 1070 immigration law.