Wait a tick… Don’t we already have these laws on the books? So they passed a law stating they were going to enforce a law that already exists…??? Whatever. At least they’re doing something, I suppose.
Ariz. governor signs immigration enforcement bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/23/AR2010042301250_pf.html
PHOENIX – Gov. Jan Brewer ignored criticism from President Barack Obama on Friday and signed into law a bill supporters said would take handcuffs off police in dealing with illegal immigration in Arizona, the nation’s busiest gateway for human and drug smuggling from Mexico.
With hundreds of protesters outside the state Capitol shouting that the bill would lead to civil rights abuses, Brewer said critics were “overreacting” and that she wouldn’t tolerate racial profiling.
“We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act,” Brewer said after signing the law. “But decades of inaction and misguided policy have created a dangerous and unacceptable situation.”
Earlier Friday, Obama called the Arizona bill “misguided” and instructed the Justice Department to examine it to see if it’s legal. He also said the federal government must enact immigration reform at the national level - or leave the door open to “irresponsibility by others.”
“That includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona, which threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe,” Obama said.
The legislation, sent to the Republican governor by the GOP-led Legislature, makes it a crime under state law to be in the country illegally. It also requires local police officers to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are illegal immigrants; allows lawsuits against government agencies that hinder enforcement of immigration laws; and makes it illegal to hire illegal immigrants for day labor or knowingly transport them.
The law sends “a clear message that Arizona is unfriendly to undocumented aliens,” said Peter Spiro, a Temple University law professor and author of the book “Beyond Citizenship: American Identity After Globalization.”
Brewer signed the bill in a state auditorium about a mile from the Capitol complex where some 2,000 demonstrators booed county Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox when she announced that “the governor did not listen to our prayers.”
“It’s going to change our lives,” said Emilio Almodovar, a 13-year-old American citizen from Phoenix. “We can’t walk to school any more. We can’t be in the streets anymore without the pigs thinking we’re illegal immigrants.”
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund said it plans a legal challenge to the law, arguing it “launches Arizona into a spiral of pervasive fear, community distrust, increased crime and costly litigation, with nationwide repercussions.”
Mexico has warned the proposal could affect cross-border relations. On Thursday, Mexico’s Senate unanimously passed a resolution urging Brewer to veto the law.
“Police in Arizona already treat migrants worse than animals,” said Francisco Loureiro, an activist who runs a migrant shelter in the border town of Nogales, Mexico. “There is already a hunt for migrants, and now it will be open season under the cover of a law.”
The bill will take effect in late July or early August, and Brewer ordered the state’s law enforcement licensing agency to develop a training course on how to implement it without violating civil rights.
“We must enforce the law evenly, and without regard to skin color, accent, or social status,” she said. “We must prove the alarmists and the cynics wrong.”
Brewer, who faces a tough election battle and growing anger in the state over illegal immigrants, said the law “protects every Arizona citizen.”
Anti-immigrant anger has swelled in the past month, after rancher Rob Krentz was found dead on his land north of Douglas, near the Mexico border. Authorities believe he was fatally shot by an illegal immigrant possibly connected to a drug smuggling cartel.
Arizona has an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants, and its harsh, remote desert serves as the corridor for the majority of illegal immigrants and drugs moving north into the U.S. from Mexico.
U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Democrat, said he closed his Arizona offices at noon Friday after his staff in Yuma and Tucson were flooded with calls this week, some from people threatening violent acts and shouting racial slurs. He called on businesses and groups looking for convention and meeting locations to boycott Arizona.
The bill’s Republican sponsor, state Rep. Russell Pearce of Mesa, said Obama and other critics of the bill were “against law enforcement, our citizens and the rule of law.”
Pearce said the legislation would remove “political handcuffs” from police and help drive illegal immigrants from the state.
“Illegal is illegal,” said Pearce, a driving force on the issue in Arizona. “We’ll have less crime. We’ll have lower taxes. We’ll have safer neighborhoods. We’ll have shorter lines in the emergency rooms. We’ll have smaller classrooms.”
Arizona governor signs immigration law; foes promise fight
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/04/23/20100423arizona-immigration-law-passed.html
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer today signed into law an immigration bill that gives the state toughest law in the nation, making it a state crime to be in the country illegally and requiring local police to enforce federal immigration laws.
Brewer said she signed the bill in response to "the crisis the federal government has refused to fix.‘’
Hispanic leaders addressing the hundreds of protesters at the Capitol immediately vowed to wage a legal fight, and Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon said he wants the city to sue.
The new immigration law will require anyone whom police suspect of being in the country illegally to produce “an alien registration document,” such as a green card, or other proof of citizenship such as a passport or Arizona driver’s license.
It also makes it illegal to impede the flow of traffic by picking up day laborers for work. A day laborer who gets picked up for work, thus impeding traffic, would also be committing a criminal act.
The law goes into effect 90 days after the current legislative session ends, which is expected to be sometime in early May.
Brewer said the new state law mirrors federal law, and that she worked "for weeks’ with legislators to strengthen the bill to its current form. She said it does not allow for racial profiling.
“I will not tolerate racial discrimination or racial profiling in Arizona,” she said.
To assure that doesn’t happen, Brewer also issued an executive order that the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board immediately develop a training program to teach law enforcement how to “appropriately implement Senate Bill 1070.”
“This will include what does and does not constitute reasonable suspicion,” she said.
Brewer said that while the law protects citizens, it “cannot come at the expense of diversity.”
“We must use our new tool wisely,” she said. “We must react calmly, enforce it evenly and we must prove the alarmists and cynics wrong.”
Brewer said she anticipates the law will face legal challenges over its constitutionality.
“It’s probably going to survive, I think, in most areas,” she said, adding that legislation could be introduced at some point later to fix “a hiccup here or there.”
Brewer said those rallying against the bill are “overreacting.”
“I think it’s because they are concerned about racial profiling,” she said. "Racial profiling is illegal. It will not be tolerated in America and it certainly will not be tolerated in Arizona.
Bill sponsor Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, called this “a good day for America.”
“This is a reasonable law,” he said.
He said law enforcement will enforce the law properly and he said Brewer’s request that AZ POST develop training was a good one.
“I don’t think you can have too much training,” he said. “Anything to alleviate fears is a good thing.”
Pearce also said he does not believe Brewer’s signing will result in groups boycotting Arizona. “There are not going to be boycotts,” he said. “People love to come to a safe state.”
Bill opponent Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, called this “one of the darkest days in Arizona.”
“This violates the rights of all Arizonans,” she said. “It will be litigated. We will seek an injunction from this law being implemented.”
She said her legal concerns about the law are several, including the potential for racial profiling, whether the state has the right to even have such a law in the face of federal authority, and possible violations of due process.
Sinema said her message to the community now is to “stay calm.”
“There is no need to flee,” she said. “We will be litigating.”
Gordon criticized Brewer’s action.
“The governor clearly knows that her actions not only have split the state, but will now cause severe economic hardship to all our businesses at a time when we can’t afford any losses. The executive order isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”
Gordon said the executive order to AZ POST would be unenforceable; called it “an attempt to solve this problem with smoke and mirrors.”
“Officers throughout the state will be allowed to interpret it on their own since governments can’t adopt any policies including interpretations or rules. Therefore her own executive order is in conflict with the statute.”
Gordon continued: “I’m extremely disappointed at the governor’s actions, that a governor with a caring heart has allowed individuals like Russell Pearce and Joe Arpaio to make her a puppet governor whose strings are controlled by them.”
“I’ve scheduled an item on the agenda for Tuesday to ask the council to direct the city attorney to draft, to prepare a lawsuit asking for an injunction on this law and challenging it on constitutional grounds. It’s real important to me that we all must remain peaceful and calm. Calls for economic boycotts by our residents, by our elected officials, are wrong, will hurt everyone, and we must now go to court as occurred in the 1950s and 1960s in the civil rights battles.”
Pro-bill protesters at Capitol cheered loudly when Brewer made her announcement, one yelling out "God Bless Jan Brewer.‘’
Meanwhile, the anti-bill protesters began shouting in unison, “Shame on You! Shame on You!”
A handful of teenage girls was seen openly weeping after it was announced that Brewer had signed the bill.
After the chanting started, pro-bill forces began to sing “America the Beautiful.”
Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox said afterwards that the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican-American Defense Fund have already promised to fight implementation of the law.
“This is only the first step of a long battle, and I don’t lose,'” Wilcox said.
She also chastised Brewer, calling her cold-hearted.
"When the president says this is wrong, it’s a shame she put herself above him,‘’ Wilcox said.
Alfredo Gutierrez, a Latino community leader and former state senator, said, “Obviously, this is a very bad thing for the state from our point of view.” He predicted acts of civil disobedience and economic consequences for the state as a result.
"This is apartheid for us. This law is influenced by laws of South Africa. It’s amazing to me that in 2010, we are dealing with acts of such overt hatred anywhere in this country,‘’ Gutierrez said.
Those leading the rally urged protesters to follow the lead of legendary civil rights leader Cesar Chavez, who in 1972 led the unionization of farm works in direct opposition to legislation that year.
But at about 2:15 p.m., police began to arrest a handful of protesters who threw water bottles at the police on the south side of the Capitol.
Other protesters urged the small group to stop.
At another site near the Capitol, meanwhile, a large group of protesters started chasing a supporter of the bill, prompting police to come to his rescue
The Arizona Senate and House limited access to the public all morning to keep the crowd away from lawmakers and legislative staff.
Terry Irish of Chandler, who favors the bill, was elated when Brewer announced her decision. He said he did not blame opposing protesters for asserting themselves, however. He said it is a symptom of federal policies of inaction not to close the border.
"This thing wouldn’t be happening if they had sealed our borders,‘’ Irish said.
“They allowed this to happen to make these people slaves to business.”
Obama Seeks Immigration Overhaul, Slams Arizona Law
President Barack Obama called anew for overhauling the nation’s immigration laws, saying a failure to do so will lead to “misguided” efforts such as legislation passed in Arizona.
“Our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others,” Obama said at a Rose Garden naturalization ceremony for 24 members of the U.S. military. “That includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona.”
The state legislature passed a bill that would make it a state crime to be in the U.S. illegally and require local police to determine the immigration status of anyone an officer suspects of being in the country without proper documentation.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, who is running for a new term this year, signed the bill into law at a ceremony attended by several state officials hours after Obama’s comments. Brewer said she expects the measure to face constitutional challenges.
The measure has sparked protests in the state, where Census Bureau figures show about a quarter of the population is of Hispanic descent. It also shares a border with Mexico and has an estimated 460,000 residents living there illegally, the seventh highest total in the country, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
‘Notions of Fairness’
The actions by the Arizona legislature threaten “to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans,” Obama said. It also may hamper trust between residents and law enforcement authorities, he said.
He said he has instructed U.S. authorities to monitor the state’s actions and to “examine the civil rights and other implications” of the legislation.
The president’s comments came at a naturalization ceremony for 24 U.S. soldiers from 16 countries who took the oath to become citizens.
Democratic congressional leaders have said an overhaul of U.S. immigration law could advance through Congress this year if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid can pick up enough Republican support to get it through the chamber.
The last try at revamping the law to create a guest worker program and provide a path to citizenship for some of those living in the U.S. illegally was in 2007. That was blocked amid opposition from Republicans and some Democrats.
Call for Solution
“Surely we can all agree that when 11 million people in our country are living here illegally, outside the system, that’s unacceptable,” Obama said. “The American people demand and deserve a solution.”
Obama lauded the work of Senators Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, and Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, to come up with a framework for legislation that can win bipartisan support.
Graham has said he’ll introduce legislation only after it’s finished and at least one other Republican signs on. He said this week that any effort to move immigration this year will fail badly because both parties need to “lay the groundwork” politically with tough border-control approaches first.
The president has been making calls to members of Congress, including Republicans, to win support for tackling an immigration law overhaul, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
And:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2319585520100423
For those of you still reading. I wonder what is going to happen if Obama gets pulled over in Arizona… Just sayin…
No permit to carry concealed and now getting rid of illegals, even more reason to move south.