In the legal battle over Arizona's new immigration law, an ironic subtext has emerged: whether a Bush-era legal opinion complicates a potential Obama administration lawsuit against Arizona.
The document, written in 2002 by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, concluded that state police officers have "inherent power" to arrest undocumented immigrants for violating federal law.
"The Justice Department's official position as of now is that local law enforcement has the inherent authority to enforce federal immigration law," said Robert Driscoll, a former Justice Department Civil Rights Division official in the George W. Bush administration... "How can you blame someone for exercising authority that the department says they have?"
Memo from 2002 could complicate challenge of Arizona immigration law. Jerry Markon, Washington Post Staff Writer.
Read the entire article at The Washington Post: Memo from 2002 could complicate challenge of Arizona immigration law.
