Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is standing firmly behind Arizona as the state heads to the U.S. Supreme Court over its controversial immigration law.
Bondi told reporters Tuesday after the Florida Cabinet meeting that her position is a defense of states rights.
Gov.ernor Jan Brewer shouldnt have to be dealing with that in Arizona. The federal authorities should be dealing with that, but theyre not, Bondi said. And theyre not protecting her borders. And thats when she came in and had to do something in her state to protect her borders.
Bondi joined her counterparts from 15 other states in filing a friend-of-the-court, or amicus, brief in support of Arizonas 2010 law. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette filed the initial brief.
Im not saying Florida is in an identical situation, but I did sign on to an amicus and I will continue to sign on to an amicus brief, when they affect states' rights, Bondi said.
The Supreme Court is expected to hear the case on Wednesday. A ruling isn't expected until late summer.
The Obama administration has challenged Arizona's law -- which seeks to block illegal immigrants from getting jobs and to require law enforcement checks on detainees suspected of being in the country illegally -- claiming it is a flagrant overreach of the state into federal immigration laws.
Arizona has countered that the federal governments system is broken and the border state has paid the price with a disproportionate influx of illegal immigration that has soaked up the states health-care and education dollars.
The ACLU of Florida was quick to criticize Bondis stance
By adding her name to the Supreme Court brief, Attorney General Bondi has symbolically given the blessing of all Floridians to laws that threaten peoples rights and make law enforcement more difficult," Howard Simon, executive director of ACLU Florida, stated in a release.
Focusing on race or national origin in policing sends a chilling message to certain groups -- in this case, Latino and Hispanic families -- that they are under increased suspicion.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.
