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Arizona governor signs immigration law

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Arizona governor signs immigration law Empty Arizona governor signs immigration law

Post by TexasBlue Fri Apr 23, 2010 3:48 pm

Arizona governor signs immigration law

Alia Beard Rau
Apr. 23, 2010
The Arizona Republic


Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer today signed into law an immigration bill that gives the state toughest law in the nation, making it a state crime to be in the country illegally and requiring local police to enforce federal immigration laws.

The new immigration law will require anyone whom police suspect of being in the country illegally to produce "an alien registration document," such as a green card, or other proof of citizenship such as a passport or Arizona driver's license.

It also makes it illegal to impede the flow of traffic by picking up day laborers for work. A day laborer who gets picked up for work, thus impeding traffic, would also be committing a criminal act.

The law goes into effect 90 days after the current legislative session ends, which is expected to be sometime in early May.

History

Arizona has about 460,000 undocumented immigrants, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Currently, immigration offenses are violations of federal law, something most local law-enforcement agencies cannot enforce.

Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, has been working with groups across the state and nation for years to craft legislation that would toughen enforcement of illegal immigration in the state. The new law is the result of those efforts, and something he calls the "Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act."

"It's a simple bill," Pearce has said. "It simply puts into place enforcement provisions that are really already provided under federal law."

The measure passed the House 35-21, with all the Republicans supporting it and all the Democrats present opposing it. Four Democrats were absent. It then passed the Senate 17-11 with all Republicans except Sen. Carolyn Allen, R-Scottsdale, supporting it and all the Democrats present opposing it. Two Democrats were absent.

The legislative approval capped months of impassioned debate, fueled by outrage over the murder of Douglas-area rancher Robert Krentz, who was shot along well-known smuggling routes near the border.

Brewer's action came after advocates lobbied supporters and opponents held rallies and protests that have grown daily.

Petition signatures were collected and prayer vigils held, and Brewer's office was bombarded with phone calls and e-mails. Earlier this week, police arrested nine college students after they chained themselves to the Old Capitol building's doors in protest. Since then, protests have grown in size, with hundreds showing up at the Capitol on Friday to protest both for and against the immigration bill.

Immigration efforts

The law is the latest in a string of legislation intended to drive illegal immigrants out of Arizona by making life tougher for them through a policy known as enforcement through attrition.

Those measures include a requirement that public-service workers report illegal immigrants to federal authorities; the 2008 employer-sanctions law; and requirements that voters must show proof of citizenship at the polls. Several of those came about with the help of Brewer.

Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman said that when Brewer was Arizona's secretary of state, she advocated for Proposition 200, the provision that requires proof of identification to vote and proof of citizenship to register to vote. Brewer pushed for the measure in 2004 and then "vigorously fought legal battles to successfully defend its provisions," he said.

The lawsuits were resolved in favor of her position in 2008.

In 2009, Brewer worked with the Arizona Department of Economic Security to ensure that state spending on social-welfare programs went only to those who were eligible under the law, Senseman said.

Supporters

The law has received vocal support from Republican politicians, including Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, now a candidate for state attorney general, and Sen. John McCain and his opponent J.D. Hayworth. GOP gubernatorial hopefuls Owen "Buz" Mills, State Treasurer Dean Martin and former Board of Regents President John Munger also said they favor the law.

State legislators in support of the measure said they did what they had to in the face of the federal government doing nothing.

"The U.S. Constitution says the federal government shall protect states from foreign invasion," Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, said. "The federal government has not done that. People are being attacked. . . . Arizona needs to act."

Opponents

Immigrant advocates have been appalled by the bill's provisions.

"It's the most anti-immigrant legislation the U.S. has seen in a generation," said Chris Newman, legal director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network in Los Angeles.

The Mexican Embassy issued a statement against the bill, citing concerns about its impact on the "civil rights of Mexican nationals."

Local clergy and religious organizations have added their voices to the stream of protests that the bill will result in discrimination and hurt the economy.

State lawmakers who voted against the bill worried about how the measure will affect the nation's perception of Arizona.

"Is this really going to be a state that people are going to want to come to whether to visit on a temporary basis or as a business wanting to relocate here?" Sen. Leah Landrum Taylor, D-Phoenix, asked. "Our state will be going completely backward."

Law enforcement

Law enforcement has been split over the bill, with many rank-and-file officer groups supporting it and the police chiefs association opposing it.

Mark Spencer, president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, which represents Phoenix police officers, said his group supports the law because it would give local authorities the ability to better enforce the law.

"To hinder or restrict local law enforcement from partnering with their federal counterparts in ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) or Border Patrol increases the risk of danger not only for the community but also for officers," he said.

The Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police opposes the law but said its members will enforce its provisions "to the best of their abilities."

The group's opposition stems from concerns that the law will require officers to focus on illegal immigration above other crimes and that no funding has been provided to train officers on how to properly enforce the new law.

What's next?

The question now is how local law enforcement will follow the law, and how Arizona residents - both legal and illegal - will react.

Phoenix Vice Mayor Michael Nowakowski earlier in the week sent a letter to City Manager David Cavazos, suggesting that if the bill becomes law, police should request citizenship proof from everyone they stop in order to avoid charges of racial profiling.

The bill states that an Arizona driver's license is sufficient to prove citizenship. Nowakowski argued that licenses from other states, however, may not be sufficient because some states do not require proof of citizenship to get a license, as Arizona does.

"That means that anyone who drives in the city of Phoenix and gets pulled over better have a passport or a visa," he said.

There have also been concerns from police chiefs across the nation that their states may follow in Arizona's footsteps.

Police Chief Richard Myers, of Colorado Springs, Colo., predicted the Arizona law would be the start of a trend.

"Right now, Arizona is ground zero . . . but my state is a connecting state to Arizona," he said. "It won't take long for this to become a hot-button issue in Colorado."

Lawsuits

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona and other groups have predicted the law will unleash a torrent of lawsuits. The ACLU said earlier this week that it was still considering whether it would wait for a case of racial profiling on which to base a lawsuit or whether it would file a suit challenging the constitutionality of the law itself and ask the courts to prevent it from going into effect.

Muzaffar Chishti,a lawyer who tracks state and local immigration laws at the Migration Policy Institute's office at New York University Law School, said the Arizona law might be unconstitutional because, with a few exceptions, immigration enforcement is the sole responsibility of the federal government.

"I don't see how it could pass constitutional muster," Chishti said. "Immigration enforcement is seen exclusively as being in the federal domain except in certain conditions."

Kris Kobach, a University of Missouri-Kansas City law professor, disagreed.

"There are some things that states can do and some things that states can't do, but this law threads the needle perfectly," said Kobach, who worked with Arizona lawmakers to craft the law.
TexasBlue
TexasBlue

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