Arizona Files Countersuit Tied to Challenge of Its Immigration Law

Washington Post: Even as the federal lawsuit challenging Arizona's strict immigration law remains tied up in an appellate court, tensions over the case have ratcheted up, with the state firing a legal shot back at the Obama administration. Gov. Jan Brewer (R) filed the unusual countersuit last week against the federal government, accusing it of failing to secure the southwest border against a tide of illegal immigrants. The lawsuit, or counterclaim, was filed as part of the same case in which the Justice Department is seeking to have the Arizona law declared unconstitutional. The department sued Arizona in July over the immigration law, which empowers police to question people who they suspect are in the country illegally. The law has triggered a fierce national debate. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit is considering whether to allow the measure's most contested provisions to take effect. "We did not want this fight. We did not start this fight,'' Brewer said as she announced the state's countersuit Thursday at a news conference in Phoenix attended by a handful of protesters. "But, now that we are in it, Arizona will not rest until our border is secured and federal immigration laws are enforced."