Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer visits Huntsville, praises Alabama immigration law

By Brian Lawson
The Huntsville Times
Friday, October 28, 2011, 6:34 PM


Arizona Governor Jan Brewer answers questions about immigration laws during a press conference at the Huntsville Marriott in Huntsville, Al., Friday Oct. 28,2011. (The Huntsville Times/Robin Conn)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed the once-toughest immigration law in the country, was in Huntsville Friday to promote a new book, address the Alabama Federation of Republican Women and to praise Alabama's own immigration law.

Brewer became governor in January 2009 when President Obama appointed then Gov. Janet Napolitano to head the Department of Homeland Security, the agency that oversees U.S. immigration law enforcement.

After touring the U.S. Space & Rocket Center's Davidson Center, Brewer held a press conference this afternoon at the nearby Huntsville Marriott.

The governor praised the cool weather, noting Arizona has about 320 sunshine days a year and then proceeded to offer her support for the Alabama immigration law, which was signed into law in June.

Alabama's law covers more areas than Arizona's law, the key similarity is a provision that directs police officers to perform immigration status checks on motorists during traffic stops and police encounters.

A federal appeals court in California blocked that measure in Arizona's law, but a U.S. District Court in Birmingham left that section of Alabama's law in place. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has stayed some portions of Alabama's law, but declined a request by the U.S. Department of Justice and other groups for an emergency stay of the police stop immigration check provision.

Brewer said she was encouraged by the Alabama Legislature's passing the law and Gov. Robert Bentley signing it. She said those steps took courage. Brewer also said she was encouraged by the federal court decisions leaving parts of Alabama's law in place.

Brewer said Arizona is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its appeal of the lower court's injunction. The governor said she expects to hear by year's end if the court will take it up.

Brewer she expects Arizona's Senate Bill 1070 will find favor with the high court, since it is consistent with what federal law already allows.

Arizona won Supreme Court approvals for another provision of its law, which called for employers to check the immigration status of their employee through the federal E-verify program. Alabama's law contains a similar measure.

Brewer said the "liberal media" has helped encourage the characterization of the Arizona law as being wrong, racist and bigoted.

"That's totally untrue," Brewer said. "The bottom line is we have to explain to people we are a nation of laws."

Brewer said while there were calls for boycotts of Arizona after she signed the immigration law, tourism is up. State figures show a sharp recession-related tourism decline in 2009 and a slight improvement in 2010. Though both figures were well off prior years.

Brewer said Arizona has become a gateway for illegal immigration in the past several years as border protection in California and Texas has improved. She said the state was faced with widespread crime related to drug cartels and acted because it was not getting the help it needed to curb illegal immigration from the Obama Administration.

Brewer said administration officials comments critical of Arizona's law and its lawsuit opposing the law showed the state was "disrespected totally" by the federal government.

Brewer is scheduled to address the Alabama Federation of Republican Women this evening and begin her book tour in New York on Monday.

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