U.S. may challenge Ariz. immigration law

WASHINGTON, April 27 (UPI) -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Tuesday said he would not rule out a legal challenge to Arizona's new immigration law.

Speaking with reporters in Washington, Holder said no decision had been made but the Department of Justice was coordinating with the Department of Homeland Security on how Washington should respond to passage of legislation that would punish people who are detained in Arizona and are unable to prove they are in the United States legally.

"We are considering all possibilities, including the possibility of a court challenge," he said.

Holder said the Arizona law was "unfortunate."

"I think that it is, I fear, subject to potential abuse," he said. "And I'm very concerned about the wedge that it could draw between communities that law enforcement is supposed to serve and those of us in law enforcement."

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed the measure into law Friday, pushed back Tuesday against her critics, including President Barack Obama, rights activists, religious leaders, a former governor and the Mexican president, ABC reported Tuesday on "Good Morning America."

Obama called the new law "misguided" and ordered the Justice Department to investigate whether it would violate civil rights.

"I've spoken to the president personally in regard to that, (it) has been met with complete and total disrespect to the people of Arizona. I mean, we don't even get an answer back," Brewer said.

Among other things, the Arizona law makes it a crime to be in the state illegally and would require law enforcement officers to check the legal status of people they suspect are undocumented. Brewer said the legislation was in response to the federal government's inaction on illegal immigrants.

Mexico's foreign relations department Tuesday issued an advisory that Mexicans in Arizona "act with prudence and respect the framework of local laws," ABC said.

"It should be assumed that any Mexican citizen could be bothered and questioned for no other reason at any moment," the travel alert said.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who vetoed similar legislation when she was Arizona's governor, called the effort "a misguided law."

"It's not a good law enforcement law," Napolitano told ABC. "But beyond that, what it illustrates is that other states now will feel compelled to do things and you will have this patchwork of laws where we need a federal immigration system that meets our security needs, that recognizes where we need to go in this 21st century and gives us a better framework on which to stand."

In Mexico, political activists called on Mexicans not to visit Arizona to protest the legislation and "in solidarity with our compatriots who live there and can be detained unjustly," Mexican publication El Universal reported.