A US District Judge has repealed an Arizona immigration law that allowed the state and municipal law-enforcement officials and agencies, to determine the immigration status of any person.
Judge Susan Bolton in Phoenix, indicated that federal immigration law supersedes state law.
The injunction blocked Arizona from implementing the new law, less than 24 hours before it was to have taken effect. The decision backs President Obama’s argument that the state would be interfering with the federal government’s enforcement of immigration laws.
It was an important first victory for the federal government but the case may not be fully settled until it is reviewed by the US Supreme Court.
Additional details: Arizona central news, the Washington Post (video)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The fate of two Swiss businessmen held in Libya continues to cause debate in Switzerland. A foreign relations committee of the lower house of parliament Tuesday 8 September examined the letter sent by Libya that had reportedly promised the release of the men by the end of August. They remain in Libya and Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz has come under pressure from politicians and the media to insist that Libya keeps its part of the contract that should bring the men home and set up an independent commission to investigate the arrest in July 2008 of Hannibal Qadaffi and his wife. Neue Zuercher Zietung interviewed Libya’s vice president for foreign affairs, Khaled Kaim, who spoke of a misunderstanding concerning the language of the letter (see letter in full, below).
