Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, et al. v. Deal
The American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of civil rights groups have filed a class action lawsuit challenging Georgia’s anti-immigrant law, which is inspired by Arizona’s notorious SB 1070. The Georgia law authorizes police to demand “papers” demonstrating citizenship or immigration status during traffic stops, criminalizes Georgians who interact daily with undocumented individuals and makes it unjustifiably difficult for individuals without specific identification documents to access state facilities and services. The lawsuit charges that the extreme law endangers public safety, invites the racial profiling of Latinos, Asians and others who appear foreign to an officer and interferes with federal law.
The lawsuit charges that Georgia’s law, HB 87, 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 United States; and violates the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the U.S. Constitution by unlawfully discriminating against people who hold certain kinds of identity documents.
Major provisions of the Georgia law were blocked from going into effect last June. The ACLU is challenging the constitutionality of both the Alabama and Georgia laws before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals March 1st. The lawsuit charges that Georgia’s law, HB 87, 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 United States; and violates the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the U.S. Constitution by unlawfully discriminating against people who hold certain kinds of identity documents. Major provisions of the Georgia law were blocked from going into effect last June. The ACLU is challenging the constitutionality of both the Alabama and Georgia laws before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals March 1st.
