The ACLU and other activist groups were stunned today as a federal judge rejected their “racial profiling” lawsuit against landmark immigration law S.B. 1070, and cleared the way for Arizona to require police to start questioning suspected illegal aliens they have stopped.
In a 12-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton rejected pleas by those groups that what has been absurdly dubbed the “papers please” provision of Arizona’s SB 1070 cannot be enforced without violating civil rights. Bolton said there is no evidence of ‘”racial profiling” against Latinos, as the plaintiffs accused, and they cannot block the law from being enforced. She said lawsuits contesting the legality of the provision are appropriate only after the law takes effect.
Judge Rules Arizona Can Begin Enforcement of Immigration Law – Rejects ‘Racial Profiling’ Claims
By John Hill on September 5, 2012 in ACTION CENTER, Blog, News
More to the point, the judge noted that the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year overturned a previous injunction she had issued blocking enforcement Section 2(b) which requires police to question those they have stopped if there is reasonable suspicion they are in this country illegally.
“This court will not ignore the clear direction in the (earlier) opinion that Subsection 2(b) cannot be challenged further on its face before the law takes effect,” Bolton wrote.
The activists had expected Bolton to side with them, given that she originally blocked the major sections of 1070 in 2010, before the Supreme Court upheld the central provision in June.
Activists had hoped to block the law from taking effect before the election, as they know that when it was first enacted, more than 100,000 illegal aliens fled the state. Now that Arizona police are free to stop and check immigration status, there is likely to be another large waver of illegals to leave Arizona in the next several months. This could have a big effect on the election, as Democrats cannot count on as much voter fraud as they will get in states like North Carolina – which has seen massive registration irregularities and the outgoing Governor Bev Perdue vetoed a photo Voter ID provision in 2010.
This victory also will embolden states like Pennsylvania and Ohio to move ahead with Arizona-style laws in 2013. Stand With Arizona attorneys and activists are working with 17 state legislatures at this time to assist in the drafting of such laws.
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