Arizona Governor Moves to Dismiss Two SB 1070 Cases

Arizona Governor, Jan Brewer, represented by one of Arizona's largest private law firms, has moved to dismiss two complaints in the SB 1070 litigation: (1) Frisancho v. Brewer, brought by an American citizen who lives in Washington D.C., who is not represented by an attorney, and who alleges that he will suffer injury when he travels to Arizona in the Fall of 2010 because he will likely be racially profiled and asked for documents which would establish that he is in the country legally and ( 2) Salgado v. Brewer, brought by a Phoenix police officer. The Governor takes a similar legal strategy in each case. As to the Frisancho case, the plaintiff Roberto Frisancho alleges that he will be coming to Arizona to do research on the "Chandler Roundup" which he alleges involved an operation by Arizona authorities to apprehend undocumented immigrants which ended up costing "the City of Chandler $400, 000 for the settlement of lawsuits in which plaintiffs alleged that they were stopped and questioned based solely on their apparent Mexican descent." Despite this, Governor Brewer contends that his complaint should be dismissed because the plaintiff Frisancho lacks standing to bring the claims in the complaint inasmuch as he will not "suffer, an actual, imminent injury" as a result of SB 1070. Governor Brewer argues that the plaintiff's fear of injury is too speculative and merely conjectural because SB 1070 and Supreme Court case law do not permit him to be reasonably suspected of being in the country illegally solely on the basis of his Latino appearance. Similarly, Governor Brewer moves to dismiss the Salgado complaint on the ground that the plaintiff police officer, David Salgado, lacks standing because he has failed to allege facts showing that he will suffer an actual injury. In addition, Governor Brewer argues that federal law does not preempt SB 1070 because "SB 1070 does not regulate the terms upon which aliens may enter and remain in the country"and "does not intrude upon the federal government's exclusive power to regulate immigration."

For the brief in support of the Governor's motion to dismiss in the Frisancho case see: http://www.azcentral.com/ic/pdf/0611brewer-motion.pdf

For the brief in support of the Governor's motion to dismiss in the Salgado case see: http://www.azcentral.com/ic/pdf/0611brewer-salgado-motion.pdf