We saw it coming. Amid the threats of lawsuits, boycotts and protests, the Arizona immigration law was always controversial. But today, it is no more!
Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton put the breaks on Arizona’s law meant to curtail illegal immigration through unsubstantiated and random stops of Hispanics on the street — in a move just hours before the law was to take effect. Judge Bolton’s ruling came against perhaps the most contentious portion of the law, which gave police full authority to verify the immigration status of anyone during routine stops (TRANSLATION: A cop could stop ANY Hispanic he wanted for ANY reason, so as to determine if they were a legal citizen or not. Also known as “Racial Profiling”).
In anticipation of the law they feared would make them constant targets, many documented and undocumented Hispanics began pulling their children out of Arizona schools and fleeing for the nearest U.S. border state. But as most legal scholars have long said, a state does not have the authority to fix or change federal law to their liking. And immigration is indeed FEDERAL law.
All sides immediately weighed in on the court’s decision. Arizona’s Republican Governor Jan Brewer was first to challenge the ruling, saying “This fight is far from over.” The official statement from the Obama Justice Department, which filed multiple challenges to the law, said “While we understand the frustration of Arizonans with the broken immigration system, a patchwork of state and local policies would seriously disrupt federal immigration enforcement.” Phoenix Vice Mayor Michael Nowakowsi quickly reminded all parties “You can’t have 50 states doing their own version of immigration law.” But William Gheen, president of the Americans for Legal Immigration political action committee angrily added: “The president of the United States and this judge just took the side of illegal immigrants against the American citizenry. America is going to cry out in anger. Our mission is to channel that anger into political activities designed to rebuke the politicians and business leaders and special interest groups behind this invasion.”
So for now, the courts have stepped in at the 11th hour. Judge Bolton has provided a temporary stop-gap until the full legal dispute can be aired, as well as a portion of the law that banned illegal immigrants from seeking work and required documented immigrants to apply for and permanently carry registration papers.
Needless to say, allies of the controversial law are absolutely livid. They want their immigration problem resolved and they believe wholeheartedly that they are correct in presenting their own version of the law. But although Judge Bolton acknowledged the state’s concerns about illegal immigration, she made it clear that enforcement of the provisions “would likely burden legal resident aliens and interfere with federal policy.”
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I'm not surprised at all that this ran into trouble. There was no way a state could make up their own laws and clash with fed law. I'm just glad it finally all came to a head. But this is only the beginning. There will be plenty more fighting to come.