Arizona lawmakers modify immigration law

Legislators ban race from being used by police as a factor to identify illegal immigrants. The initial law allowed the use of race to form the suspicion but said it could not be the sole factor.
By Nicholas Riccardi, Los Angeles Times

April 30, 2010 | 10:27 a.m.


Reporting from Phoenix
Arizona lawmakers late Thursday narrowed a controversial immigration law signed last week by the governor in hopes of quelling a national firestorm over suggestions it will force police to racially profile Latinos while looking for illegal immigrants.

The law makes it a state crime to lack proper immigration papers in Arizona and requires police to determine whether people are in the country illegally. The initial law forbade race from being used "solely" to form the suspicion but not from being a factor. Civil rights lawyers contended that it essentially legalized racial profiling.

In the final hours of their legislative session, after three federal lawsuits were filed contending the law is unconstitutional, lawmakers removed the word "solely," explicitly banning race from being used at all by police. "It should quell the fears that a lot of people have vocalized," Lyle Mann, who oversees training of police officers for the state, told the Arizona Capitol Times. "This will make the training and policymaking much clearer and simpler."



Lawmakers also lessened the penalties that local governments must pay if residents successfully sue because police are not enforcing the law.

Gov. Jan Brewer must sign the legislation containing the changes for them to become law. The entire package will go into effect at the end of July.

The law has been criticized by a wide range of figures, including President Obama and Colombian pop star Shakira, and sparked calls for boycotts of Arizona. It is also supported by 51% of voters nationally, according to a recent poll.

nicholas.riccardi@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 2336.story