Utah Reps. Rob Bishop, Jason Chaffetz oppose federal lawsuit challenging Arizona law

WASHINGTON — Reps. Rob Bishop and Jason Chaffetz, both R-Utah, signed onto a friend of the court brief Wednesday opposing the federal lawsuit challenging Arizona's new immigration law.

The two Utah congressmen joined 79 other members of Congress by signing a brief filed by the American Center for Law and Justice with U.S. District Court in Arizona.

The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking an injunction to stop Arizona's immigration law from taking effect. The amicus brief opposes that injunction.

"The restrictive federal land management policies along our southern border have left vast unpatrolled corridors that provide human and drug traffickers with virtually unmitigated entrance into the U.S.," Bishop said in a news release.

Arizona has been left to deal with such illegal activity for far too long, he said.

"The federal government should be focused on securing the border and shouldn't waste time trying to prohibit states from playing a role and doing what they may feel is appropriate," Bishop said.

Bishop has introduced legislation that would provide the U.S. Border Patrol with the same levels of access on federal lands as they currently have on state and private property to bring more security to the border.

The amicus brief asserts Congress' "plenary power over immigration" and states that the Department of Justice's claim of authority is meritless.

It also states that the Arizona law, SB1070, is "fully consonant" with federal immigration policy that promotes increasingly greater roles for states in enforcing immigration law.

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