CONGRESSIONAL HISPANIC CAUCUS (CHC) STATEMENT ON DOJ’S CHALLENGE TO ARIZONA IMMIGRATION LAW, S.B. 1070

(Washington, DC) - In response to the Department of Justice’s announcement that it has filed suit against the state of Arizona for its recently passed immigration law, S.B. 1070, Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, Chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, issued the following statement:

“Immigration policy is a federal responsibility and with today’s challenge of Arizona S.B. 1070, the Department of Justice made it clear that state laws which violate the Constitution will not go uncontested. Our country needs a federal solution to this problem, not a chaotic hodgepodge of 50 different state immigration policies.Although S.B. 1070 sounds tough, it will do nothing to solve the problem and will foster a hostile environment for people of color and encourage racial profiling.

Immigration reform must provide a system that ends illegal immigration, secures our borders and provides rules that everyone can follow. This can only be achieved by passing comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level. The time has come for Democrats and Republicans to unite and fix our broken immigration system once and for all.”

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