...Arizona Legal Battle Has Just Begun .

Saturday, 31 July 2010 06:26 Tom Fitton

Just hours before Arizona's tough new illegal immigration law was scheduled to go into effect, a federal judge put the brakes on some of its provisions - at least for now.

According to The Associated Press:

A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the most controversial parts of Arizona's immigration law from taking effect, delivering a last-minute victory to opponents of the crackdown.


The overall law will still take effect Thursday, but without the provisions that angered opponents - including sections that required officers to check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws.

The judge also put on hold parts of the law that required immigrants to carry their papers at all times, and made it illegal for undocumented workers to solicit employment in public places. In addition, the judge blocked officers from making warrantless arrests of suspected illegal immigrants.

While some provisions of the law were put on the shelf, other provisions did go into effect as scheduled on Thursday. "As the case is litigated, Arizona will be able to block state officials from so-called 'sanctuary city' policies limiting enforcement of federal law; require that state officials work with federal officials on illegal immigration; allow civil suits over sanctuary cities; and to make it a crime to pick up day laborers," Fox News reported.

It is a great victory that SB 1070's banning of "sanctuary" polices survived the Obama legal attack and is now the law in Arizona. And, as importantly, SB 1070 also gives Arizona residents the opporunity to sue "sanctuary cities" that violate federal immigration law. You can be sure Judicial Watch will seek to enforce this provision in the courts, too!

Still, with this ruling the Obama administration can claim at least a partial victory in its dangerous and lawless campaign to prevent immigration laws from being enforced in Arizona and, by extension, every state in the country.

Here's a link to U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton's ruling. And Fox News has a quick and dirty summary of the key points in her decision. This excerpt gives you the gist:

The court by no means disregards Arizona's interests in controlling illegal immigration and addressing the concurrent problems with crime including the trafficking of humans, drugs, guns, and money....Even though Arizona's interests may be consistent with those of the federal government, it is not in the public interest for Arizona to enforce preempted laws.

We don't agree that - regardless of how miserably the government fails to protect the border - the state of Arizona should be forbidden to take sensible action based on federal law to protect its citizens.

But as Judicial Watch noted in a memorandum filed last week on behalf of Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce, the author of the immigration law:

The law of this Circuit is clear. In 1983, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that nothing in federal law precludes a city from enforcing the criminal provisions of immigration law. Gonzalez v. City of Peoria, 722 F.2d 468, 476 (9th Cir. 1983). By enacting Senate Bill 1070, as amended by House Bill 2162 ("SB 1070"), the Arizona legislature simply codified already existing enforcement provisions of federal law that has been the law of the land in some regard for more than fifty years.

For those of us who are fighting to enforce all of our nation's immigration laws, this week was a temporary setback. Judge Bolton put some key provisions of the Arizona law on hold, but only until the court system can more fully determine if they are constitutional.

Judicial Watch will work with SB 1070 author Arizona State Sen. Pearce to continue to defend this law in the courts. And "sanctuary cities" in Arizona should know that they will be subject to lawsuits if they don't start complying with federal law.

Make no mistake about it - the Obama administration is oblivious to the danger to the public safety caused by its failure to secure the borders and enforce the law.

Even if Judge Bolton did tip her hand as to how she might ultimately rule, this lawsuit will be appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court no matter which side wins in the lower courts. Governor Brewer has said as much. In fact, she has already filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to lift the injunction. We plan to participate on behalf of Sen. Pearce in this appeals process.

This battle is just getting started.

And Judicial Watch is right in the middle of it. We have every intention of doing all we can to protect the rule of law in Arizona and to pave the way for the many other states struggling rampant illegal immigration to take action.


http://www.rightsidenews.com/2010073111 ... begun.html