Skip to main content

McClintock Recruits House Members to Become Party to Washington Legal Foundation's Amicus Brief in Support of the Arizona Immigration Law

July 15, 2010

Washington, D.C. – Representative Tom McClintock (R-CA) has recruited 17 members of the House of Representatives to become party to an amicus brief in support of Arizona’s new immigration law. The brief has been filed by the Washington Legal Foundation in support of Arizona in a lawsuit filed by the ACLU.

The Washington Legal Foundation’s amicus brief argues that the Arizona immigration law does not preempt the federal government’s exclusive authority to regulate immigration. In May the ACLU filed suit to enjoin the Arizona immigration law on the grounds that it unconstitutionally encroaches on the federal government’s exclusive authority to regulate immigration. The brief argues that Arizona does not seek to control admissions, removals or conditions upon which legal status may granted. Instead, it points out that Arizona simply seeks to assist in enforcing existing federal law.

“Arizona has not adopted a new immigration law,” said Congressman McClintock. “All it has done is to enforce existing law. America’s immigration law is not designed to keep people out. It is to assure that as people come to the United States, they do so with the intention of becoming Americans. Our nation embraces immigration and what makes that possible is assimilation. That is the broad meaning of our nation’s motto, “E Pluribus Unum” – from many people, one people, the American people.”

###