Washington Post: Arizona governor signs immigration bill, reopening national debate
The Washington Post reports on a controversial new law, Senate Bill 1070 (pdf), recently signed by Jan Brewer, the governor of Arizona, concerning immigration and civil liberties.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law Friday the most restrictive immigration bill in the country, setting the stage for a showdown with the Obama administration and reigniting a divisive national debate less than seven months before congressional midterm elections.
Brewer, a Republican facing a stiff primary challenge, said she had no choice but to act because Washington’s failure to address the issue had effectively left border protection to the states. “We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act,” she said, as hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside her Phoenix office. “But decades of federal inaction and misguided policy have created an unacceptable situation.” [...]
Even before it was signed, President Obama criticized the Arizona law, which requires police to question anyone who appears to be in the country illegally. Obama called the effort “misguided” and directed the Justice Department to monitor its implementation, warning that it could violate citizens’ civil rights. Immediate legal challenges were expected from outside groups.
Obama cited the measure as a sign that Congress must act swiftly on overhauling immigration, saying failure to do so would “only open the door to irresponsibility by others.” [...]
Under Arizona’s new law, to take effect in 90 days, it will be a state crime to be in the country illegally, and legal immigrants will be required to carry paperwork proving their status. Arizona police will generally be required to question anyone they “reasonably suspect” of being undocumented — a provision that critics argue will lead to widespread racial profiling, but that supporters insist will give authorities the flexibility to enforce existing immigration laws. [...]
Joining Obama at the Rose Garden event was Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who vetoed similar bills repeatedly during two terms as Arizona’s Democratic governor. She said she did so because “they would have diverted critical law enforcement resources from the most serious threats to public safety.” [...]
The legislation makes Arizona the first state to criminalize illegal immigration by defining unlawful presence as trespassing, according to the National Council of State Legislatures. Between 2007 and 2009, California, Colorado and Texas considered similar proposals but killed them.
Possibly related posts:
April 26th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
The reason that Cali, Colorado, and Texas killed their proposals is the simple fact that they’re unconstitutional. New Hampshire tried to do the same thing in 2005 and it was shot down as preempting federal supremacy.
April 26th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Children are Watching
by stopdainsanity2
When I entered kindergarten – I was put into a class for the mentally retarded. Because my skin was brown my teacher assumed I did not speak English and required special bilingual support which was not available at the time. Yes – I was a Mexican-American citizen child.
It literally took 2 weeks for my parents to force the school to place me in the mainstream kindergarten class — even though I could respond to questions in English. At the time if was easier for frustrated- overworked teachers (not bad people), who felt school district should have a place for spanish speaking children to learn (reasonable), to send me to the special needs class – no questions asked – based on my skin color. Although the error was corrected, as a child I never lost the feeling I was not welcomed and somehow my rights as a citizen were not equal to those of white americans. Be careful – children are watching.
April 26th, 2010 at 10:55 pm
Sovereignty-minded citizens and legal residents must throw out any pro-Amnesty, Pro-Illegal immigrant legislators in the coming elections. Join the people of NumbersUSA, the Tea Party members to discard Sen. Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, John McCain, Chuck Schumer and certainly Lindsey Graham who are pushing to allow the 20 to 30 million illegal criminal aliens who stole though our border. These are not all the culprits and you can find a index of the illegal immigration invasion procurers at NumbersUSA Other involved are Governors, Mayors, Judges and official city managers.. In conclusion that illegal immigrants are criminals and already violated the law, will no doubt vote in the midterm or November elections. Only 8 states require picture ID to vote, which opens the door to just about anybody else to cheat the people of these United States. This has been my blog battle since Reid tried to table E-Verify, to reduce illegal labor in the workforce.
Even picture ID is not significant enough as fraudulent documents are rampant to get jobs and welfare entitlement. Advocates we be needed to watch the very large population of illegal aliens in Nevada, to examine whether they are a citizen. Incumbent Harry Reid re-election campaign should receive careful scrutiny against his adversary J.D. Hayward for irregularities. This will be a message to alert Democrats-Liberals and Republicans alike, that will not condone anything but zero tolerance where AMNESTY is concerned. CRIMINALS WILL NOT GET A PATH TO CITIZENSHIP UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES. DEPLOY THE NATIONAL GUARDSMAN TO THE BORDER NOW BEFORE THE NEXT CATTLEMAN’S DEATH.
NumbersUSA is your organization to stop this travesty of our immigration laws. Join in and fight back against the lies spread by Liberals and the Liberal effected newspapers.
May 4th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
It is ridiculous to walk with my “legal identification” in my packet, just because the governor of Arizona is lost and disagree with the democrats. People like Jan Brewer are playing with the food and lives of millions of people just because … no reason! Jan Brewer is making a division in this country. For Jan Brewer is more important a party that the real politic. She is lost! she just approve this “racist” law without think about the bad economic impact to Arizona. I would like to see in the future how the bad economy is going to impact to Arizona: People moving to other states, no buyers, no tax payers, no profits to report, no sales, no jobs, companies closing and moving, etc. Plus the investment from the Arizona state to this law program in jails, deportations, hire people, etc. At the end a Sate that will have a big due… thanks to Jan Brewer.