APNewsBreak: Nations challenge SC immigration law

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Sixteen Latin American and Caribbean nations have asked to join the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit against South Carolina’s new illegal immigration law.

South Carolina’s law goes into effect in January and is among the toughest in the nation. It requires law officers who make a traffic stop to call federal immigration officials if they suspect someone is in the country illegally.

In briefs filed Tuesday, Mexico, Brazil, Honduras and other countries say they have an interest in making sure their citizens’ ethnicity is not used as a basis for state-sanctioned discrimination.

The Justice Department argues in a request for a permanent halt to the law that only the federal government has the constitutional authority to enforce immigration laws.