SALT LAKE CITY -- The U.S. Justice Department has filed a lawsuit challenging Utah's immigration enforcement law.
Justice officials filed the lawsuit Tuesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City.
The lawsuit claims that Utah is preempting federal authority with the immigration law Gov. Gary Herbert signed earlier this year.
Justice officials say in a news release they do not expect the lawsuit to end ongoing negotiations with state officials about immigration enforcement.
The lawsuit is the second filed against the Utah law.
Civil rights groups filed a lawsuit earlier this year, and a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order in May against House Bill 497. That bill requires people arrested for serious crimes to prove their citizenship but gives police discretion to check citizenship for lesser crimes.
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