Arizona vs. Illegal Immigration: What the Ruling Means
Posted on Thursday, July 29 @ 01:34:34 EDT
Topic: State Laws Immigration illegal legal
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 U.S. District Judge Bolton's decision came down Wednesday morning -- she ruled to temporarily block some key parts of Arizona's immigration law, while allowing other parts.
The preliminary ruling, which was 36 pages long, outlines what was blocked and what was kept on pages 3 and 4.
Subjects: Illegal immigration, U.S. District Judge Bolton, SB 1070, Gov. Jan Brewer, Justice Department, State Sen. Russell Pearce
July 28, 2010
Fox Television Stations, Inc.
The injunction simplified
Blocked: Officers will not be required to check the immigration status of a person whom they suspect when they're stopped for violating other laws -- officers can not arrest a suspected illegal immigrant unless there is a warrant out for their arrest -- immigrants will not have to carry their papers at all times and -- undocumented workers cannot be arrested for trying to solicit work.
Remaining: It's illegal for any motorist to block traffic while picking up a day laborer -- state law enforcement officers must enforce federal immigration laws, which is aimed at abolishing so-called "sanctuary cities" and -- Arizona's employer sanctions law is still on the books.
Steven Gonzales, Associate Professor of Constitutional Law at Phoenix School of Law, says he was not surprised by the judge's decision. He says the judge blocked parts of the law that dealt with federal preemption, while the sections that dealt with the state regulating itself.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, the face of SB 1070, said this: "It's a little bump in the road, I believe, and that you know, until I get my whole arms around it, we don't really exactly know where we're going to go. We knew regardless of what happened today, of course one side or the other side was going to appeal."
The Justice Department responded saying: "We believe the court ruled correctly when it prevented key provisions of SB1070 from taking effect.
While we understand the frustration of Arizonans, with the broken immigration system, a patchwork of state and local policies would seriously disrupt federal immigration enforcement and would ultimately be counterproductive."
Heated reactions from both sides
About 100 people who were gathered at the State Capitol say they're planning on celebrating all night long, even sleeping on the lawn. For the past 102 days, protesters have shown their opposition to SB1070.
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard has been critical of the law ever since before it was signed, but was asked by Gov. Brewer not to defend it.
State Sen. Russell Pearce (R-Mesa), the so-called architect of SB 1070, is actually pleased with some aspects of the judge's temporary injunction. He says the judge left in key provisions that eliminate sanctuary cities, and adds that law enforcement will still be able to inquire about immigration status -- although they won't be forced to ask.
"They have all the latitude they need to ask. It hasn't been changed. Her decision didn't change anything," says Pearce. "Instead of booking them on a state charge they will put an administrative hold on them under the federal charge for ICE to take them away."
The judge upheld a section of the law that forbids a city, county or town from adopting a policy that limits or restricts immigration enforcement -- a.k.a. sanctuary cities. The judge also allowed citizens to sue that city or county if such a policy exists.
Pearce says that he and his supporters will try to get the issue before the U.S. Supreme Court as soon as possible.
The ACLU is calling the ruling a victory towards civil rights in Arizona -- but say they will not stop until all of SB1070 is struck down.
Several plaintiffs and legal experts spoke out at a news conference this afternoon, saying they look forward to proving that the law violates the constitution. Still, they're concerned that day laborers will be harassed under a part of the law that was kept.
They say if an officer determines a day laborer is impeding traffic, that officer can now make an arrest under SB1070 -- and are afraid some officers will take that too far.
Protesters vs. police
Homeland Security was prepared for the worst outside the federal courthouse. Barriers were put up in preparation, but when the decision came down, not as many protesters were there as last week.
U.S. Marshals hoped cooler heads would prevail, and that's what happened. "The best method is to sit down and talk with organization leaders and we've been doing that. We've been able to calm a lot of things down and work with a lot community groups," says U.S. Marshal David Gonzales.
Marshals are responsible for the security of Judge Bolton, but are unable to give details on how they will implement the security detail or if there have been any threats.
Meanwhile, outside the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, deputies were getting ready to undergo SB1070 training when the ruling came down -- but that class was put on hold.
The border battle continues
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office was already deporting thousands of illegal immigrants before the immigration law was signed.
Since 2007, 26,000 illegal immigrants have been deported in Maricopa County through a program called 287g. The program gives local officers the ability to enforce some federal immigration laws.
Across the country, 116,000 people have been deported under 287g, and Maricopa County alone accounted for 22 percent of those deportations.
The judge's ruling will not affect Sheriff Joe's crime sweeps, and the sheriff says his next crime sweep will go into effect on July 29. Sheriff Joe tells FOX 10 he will continue to crack down on illegal immigration.
Arizona is the country's front lines for illegal immigration. The state serves as the largest corridor for human and drug trafficking, and 45 percent of all border arrests happen in Arizona. That's an average of 900 arrests a day. There are reportedly 400,000 illegal immigrants living in Arizona.
Other local law enforcement officers are also disappointed with the judge's injunction, but police say it will still be "business as usual." Officers still have the right to call ICE when a person is suspected of being an illegal immigrant, and will continue to do so.
"Phoenix Police officers are going to be able to continue to have the discretionary ability to call ICE when there is reasonable suspicion and the person is connected with a crime," says Mark Spencer with the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association.
Spencer says that police have been handing over suspected illegal immigrants to ICE for two years now. Since then, police have pulled 3,000 illegal immigrants off Phoenix streets -- homicides are down 24 percent and car thefts are down 26 percent.
Spencer says just because parts of the law were blocked today, it doesn't mean they will be blocked forever.
"Courts make bad decisions. That's why we have common sense appeal process."
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