Ariz. countersues over immigration law

PHOENIX, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Arizona wants $760 million from Washington to pay for jailing illegal immigrants due to alleged lax federal immigration law enforcement, Gov. Jan Brewer said.

Brewer and state Attorney General Tom Horne said in a U.S. District Court filing in Phoenix the Obama administration has failed to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing the border in huge numbers, leaving the state stuck with the tab for the failed federal policies, Brewer said.

The lawsuit -- which will seek more than $760 million to cover the cost of jailing illegal immigrants and about $240 million for other security measures -- claims Arizona is being "invaded" by illegal Mexican immigrants and the U.S. Justice Department's 2010 challenge to Arizona's "enforcement obligations" to root them out violated the U.S. Constitution's 10th Amendment, which says, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution ... are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."

The enforcement obligations were contained in Arizona's tough law on illegal immigration, part of which was struck down July 28 by U.S. District Judge Susan R. Bolton, who asserted the primary authority of the federal government over state lawmakers in immigration matters.

"While control of the border is a federal responsibility, illegal aliens who successfully cross the border and commit crime in Arizona become an Arizona responsibility," KPHO-TV, Phoenix, quoted Horne as saying.

He and Brewer said they believed the lawsuit would ultimately be settled by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Brewer said the legal action would be paid with private funds so it would cost taxpayers nothing.

In response, Homeland Security spokesman Matthew Chandler called the Arizona litigation "a meritless court claim" that "does nothing to secure the border."

About 40 percent of illegal aliens enter the United States through Arizona, Brewer said in the filing, citing federal estimates.