PHOENIX (AP) — Mexico is asking a federal court in Arizona to declare the state's new immigration law unconstitutional.
Lawyers for Mexico on Tuesday submitted a legal brief in support of a lawsuit challenging the law.
The law generally requires police investigating another incident or crime to ask people about their immigration status if there's a "reasonable suspicion" they're in the country illegally.
It also makes being in Arizona illegally a misdemeanor, and it prohibits seeking day-labor work along the state's streets.
Mexico says its interest in having consistent relations with the United States shouldn't be frustrated by one state.
Mexico also says it has a legitimate interest in defending its citizens' rights and that the law would lead to racial profiling.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
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