(AP) -- The American Civil Liberties union and other civil rights groups have filed a lawsuit to block South Carolina's illegal immigration law.
The group's lawsuit was filed in Charleston on Wednesday and says the new law is unconstitutional and would spark racial profiling.
South Carolina's bill is similar to one being challenged in Alabama and Arizona. It goes into effect in January.
It requires police in South Carolina to check suspects' immigration status and mandates that all businesses check their hires through a federal online system.
ACLU lawyer Andre Segura says the South Carolina law has to be stopped because it tramples American values, interferes with federal laws and risks turning South Carolina into a police state.
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