From the Arizona Republic:
Updated story by Rau filed at 2:30 p.m.:
by Alia Beard Rau -
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.
Brewer said she signed the bill in response to “the crisis the federal government has refused to fix.”
Hispanic leaders addressing the hundreds of protesters at the Capitol immediately vowed to wage a legal fight, and Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon said he wants the city to sue.
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.
Gordon criticized Brewer’s action.
“The governor clearly knows that her actions not only have split the state, but will now cause severe economic hardship to all our businesses at a time when we can’t afford any losses. The executive order isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”
Gordon said the executive order to AZ POST would be unenforceable; called it “an attempt to solve this problem with smoke and mirrors.”
“Officers throughout the state will be allowed to interpret it on their own since governments can’t adopt any policies including interpretations or rules. Therefore her own executive order is in conflict with the statute.”
Gordon continued: “I’m extremely disappointed at the governor’s actions, that a governor with a caring heart has allowed individuals like Russell Pearce and Joe Arpaio to make her a puppet governor whose strings are controlled by them.”
“I’ve scheduled an item on the agenda for Tuesday to ask the council to direct the city attorney to draft, to prepare a lawsuit asking for an injunction on this law and challenging it on constitutional grounds. It’s real important to me that we all must remain peaceful and calm. Calls for economic boycotts by our residents, by our elected officials, are wrong, will hurt everyone, and we must now go to court as occurred in the 1950s and 1960s in the civil rights battles.”
Pro-bill protesters at Capitol cheered loudly when Brewer made her announcement, one yelling out “God Bless Jan Brewer.”
Meanwhile, the anti-bill protesters began shouting in unison, “Shame on You! Shame on You!”
A handful of teenage girls was seen openly weeping after it was announced that Brewer had signed the bill.
After the chanting started, pro-bill forces began to sing “America the Beautiful.”
Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox said afterwards that the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican-American Defense Fund have already promised to fight implementation of the law.
“This is only the first step of a long battle, and I don’t lose,’” Wilcox said.
She also chastized Brewer, calling her cold-hearted.
“When the president says this is wrong, it’s a shame she put herself above him,” Wilcox said.
Alfredo Gutierrez, a Latino community leader and former state senator, said, “Obviously, this is a very bad thing for the state from our point of view.” He predicted acts of civil disobedience and economic consequences for the state as a result.
“This is apartheid for us. This law is influenced by laws of South Africa. It’s amazing to me that in 2010, we are dealing with acts of such overt hatred anywhere in this country,” Gutierrez said.
Those leading the rally urged protesters to follow the lead of legendary civil rights leader Cesar Chavez, who in 1972 led the unionization of farm works in direct opposition to legislation that year.
But at about 2:15 p.m., police began to arrest a handful of protesters who threw water bottles at the police on the southside of the Capitol.
Other protesters urged the small group to stop.
At another site near the Capitol, meanwhile, a large group of protesters started chasing a supporter of the bill, prompting police to come to his rescue
The Arizona Senate and House limited access to the public all morning to keep the crowd away from lawmakers and legislative staff.
Terry Irish of Chandler, who favors the bill, was elated when Brewer announced her decision. He said he did not blame opposing protesters for asserting themselves, however. He said it is a symptom of federal policies of inaction not to close the border.
“This thing wouldn’t be happening if they had sealed our borders,” Irish said.
“They allowed this to happen to make these people slaves to business.”
At the news conference, Brewer also issued an executive order Arizona Police Officer Standards and Training board to develop training that will help police agencies appropriately implement the legislation, including what does or does not constitute reasonable suspicion that somebody is an illegal immigrant. Brewer vowed to protect individual civil rights, saying, “I will not tolerate racial discrimination or racial profiling in Arizona.”
She said she believes the law itself will protect those rights, directing police not to consider solely race or color in deciding whether to stop someone suspected of being in the country illegally.
“People across America are watching Arizona,” Brewer said, noting that critics nationally are “waiting for us to fail.”
However, she insisted the law will be consistent with federal immigration laws and she called concerned “alarmist.”
The law goes into effect 90 days after the current legislative session ends, which is expected to be sometime in early May.
Rau’s first take filed shortly after Brewer signed the bill at 1:30 p.m.
by Alia Beard Rau –
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.
Gov. Jan Brewer signs the immigration bill during a news conference Friday. Tom Tingle/The Arizona Republic
Brewer said she signed the bill in response to “the crisis the federal government has refused to fix.”
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.
Pro-bill protesters at Capitol cheered loudly when Brewer made her announcement, one yelling out “God Bless Jan Brewer.”
Meanwhile, the anti-bill protesters began shouting in unison, “Shame on You! Shame on You!”
Brewer also issued an executive order Arizona Police Officer Standards and Training board to develop training that will help police agencies appropriately implement the legislation, including what does or does not constitute reasonable suspicion that somebody is an illegal immigrant. Brewer vowed to protect individual civil rights, saying, “I will not tolerate racial discrimination or racial profiling in Arizona.”
She said she believes the law itself will protect those rights, directing police not to consider solely race or color in deciding whether to stop someone suspected of being in the country illegally.
“People across America are watching Arizona,” Brewer said, noting that critics nationally are “waiting for us to fail.”
However, she insisted the law will be consistent with federal immigration laws and she called concerned “alarmist.”
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.
