[JURIST] US District Judge James Cacheris of the Eastern District of Virginia [official website] Friday dismissed a lawsuit challenging measures [text and background materials] adopted by the Prince William County Board of Supervisors [official website] that required local police to check the immigration status of anyone suspected of breaking the law and removed access to many public services for illegal immigrants. The lawsuit [PDF text], filed by the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund [advocacy website] on behalf of a group of 22 plaintiffs - including legal and illegal immigrants - claimed that the measures violated equal protection laws and that immigration enforcement is a federal concern. Cacheris ruled the plaintiffs lacked legal standing because they could not show they had suffered as a result of the policies.

The board of supervisors unanimously passed the resolution behind the measures in July. The decision follows a similar suit in Oklahoma, where in October a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit [JURIST report] alleging that a state law limiting government privileges to illegal immigrants was unfair to all immigrants. AP has more.