Video: Battle brews over Ariz. immigration law

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   >>> will be saying.

   >>> from the streets of phoenix to the halls of a federal courthouse . the battle over arizona 's imkbrags law is growing more intense. the justice department is moving forward with a lawsuit against arizona . it's an effort to block the state's controversial immigration law . let's bring in mike viqueira. he's live at the white house . mike, the lawsuit, while it was expected, the way it was unveiled, that's what everyone is saying is unusual.

   >> well, very interesting. the secretary of state, of course, hillary clinton was touring south america last week. back on june eighth, she gave an interview to the local media in ecuador, one of the countries she was visiting where she said flatly, point blank, the u.s. justice department is going to sue arizona over that new controversial law. nobody really discovered it until the other day. somebody came up with it on an internet website . yes, now it's been confirmed. the justice department is going to move ahead. not much of a surprise. they have in the yet filed the lawsuit. that law takes effect on july 29th . but obviously an international controversy here. we heard it from the president of mexico and no other place but the south lawn of the white house during an arrival ceremony. one of the first things out of his mouth was the objections to the controversy shm immigratiial immigra tion law. it may violate not only american law but american core values. the basis of the justice department lawsuit simply that federal law would supersede any state law . this is the federal domain. meanwhile, the many people -- many people including the president are talking about beefing up the border first. obviously, this is not only a sensitive political issue, a controversial political issue on both sides. the president has sent 1200 national allege guard troops down there or will. the governor brewer has been here talking with the president about that, about some of the other things that are of concern to arizonans, namely, the boycotts from some state and local governments and other entities who are upset about this law. we should add, however, thomas, our own polling, nbc news/" wall street journal " polling showing that most americans favor the crackdown in arizona .

   >> thank you, mike.

   >>> a new report this morning

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