- Share This Post
- 1
- submit
- 0
-
Sparkle (0)
Protesters in Arizona and elsewhere have spent the day decrying SB1070 (.pdf), Arizona's controversial immigration control law, even though a judge's July 28 ruling barred the enforcement of the measure's most contentious provisions.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion (.pdf) for the temporary injunction July 6 as part of its lawsuit (.pdf) against the state of Arizona over the constitutionality of the law. Judge Susan Bolton's temporary injunction (.pdf) targeted sections of the law requiring police officers to verify a person's immigration status if there is "reasonable suspicion" that they are in the U.S. illegally. The injunction also holds up enforcement of a provision requiring immigrants to carry documents attesting to their legal presence in the United States, and one making it a crime for illegal immigrants to seek work. In her ruling, Bolton echoed the DOJ argument that these provisions make it harder for the federal government to conduct its constitutionally-mandated responsibility to carry out immigration and foreign policy.
Huffington Post writer Annie Shields notes that some controversial portions of the law are still in place, including one provision that makes it illegal to knowingly transport undocumented immigrants. Measures promoting greater cooperation between state and local law enforcement officials and federal immigration officials are also intact.
News of the injunction buoyed the law's opponents. Rep. Raul Grijalva, (D-AR), withdrew the call for "economic sanctions" against the state that he issued shortly after SB 1070 was passed in April. However, both he and other opponents say the fight is far from finished. Perhaps underscoring the ongoing tension, Grijalva's Yuma office was closed July 29 after reports that a gunshot was fired there, according to news reports.
In Phoenix, about 50 protesters were arrested in downtown rallies, according to this report by KNXV, the ABC affiliate station there:
Colorlines has coverage of protests from around the nation. In Philadelphia, WHYY's Susan reported that Phillips Mayor Michael Nutter applauded the injunction, telling about 100 demonstrators who protested the law:
Immigration for some has become the new segregation in the United States, that's what's really going on people need to pay attention to what this is about.
Nutter's comments echo the contention of many of the law's critics, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, that SB 1070 will promote racial profiling. Neither the Justice Department suit, nor Bolton's ruling touched on that contention. However, Arizona law enforcement officials contend that they are specifically training police officers how to enforce the law without discriminating.
Proponents of the law are undaunted. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's office filed a motion July 29 (.pdf) asking the court for an expedited hearing on its appeal (.pdf) to overturn the preliminary injunction. In an accompanying press statement, Brewer declared,
America is not going to sit back and allow the ongoing federal failures to continue. We are a nation of laws and we believe they need to be enforced. If the federal government wants to be in charge of illegal immigration and they want no help from states, it then needs to do its job. Arizona would not be faced with this problem if the federal government honored its responsibilities.
The bill's
