Federal district Judge Benson Legg of Baltimore has dismissed “with prejudice” the immigration-related unlawful arrest and profiling case brought in 2009 against Frederick County  Sheriff Charles Jenkins and two deputy sheriffs  by Roxanna Santos, an illegal alien represented by CASA de Maryland and Latino Justice/PRLDEF and assisted by several national corporate law firms.

The court order and memorandum issued on February 7, 2012 (download below) dismissed civil rights allegations for unlawful arrest, racial profiling based on Latina appearance, conspiracy to violate civil rights, and supervisory liability claims against the Sheriff, the Sheriff’s Office, and the Frederick County Commissioners.

 IRLI has filed an amicus brief (attached below) with the federal district court in Salt Lake City. The IRLI brief highlights a critical point of law that none of the Attorneys General in any of the states being sued by the Obama administration has yet addressed:  The claim by both DHS and the La Raza plaintiffs that agency “priorities” preempt state cooperative enforcement laws like HB 497.  IRLI investigated the source of this alleged “priority” power grab and has concluded that it is illegitimate, as it is almost entirely based on internal DHS memoranda, in particular the controversial “Morton memoranda” by current ICE Director John Morton.  

Utah's enforcement-only immigration law has drawn the attention of several foreign countries that have filed friend-of-the-court briefs opposing the measure-all warmly welcomed by groups suing the state in an attempt to block its implementation. But on Thursday, Utah Attorney General Shurtleff got a friend of the court brief he'd rather have not seen.  Read the full story by David Montero.

The Supreme Court's decision to hear the legal challenge to Arizona's controversial immigration enforcement law S.B. 1070 is taking center stage in the immigration debate, as supporteers and opponents of the measure call on the court to rule in their favor.  Read the full story here.