Federal Judge Halts Portions of Arizona’s Unconstitutional Anti-Immigrant Law

July 28, 2010

Temporary Victory for the Civil Rights of Every American

Washington D.C.  – Today, Federal Judge Susan Bolton prohibited the most controversial portions of Arizona’s SB1070, a harsh anti-immigrant law, from taking effect agreeing with Department of Justice attorneys who argued that the law represented “an unprecedented package of enforcement measures … in explicit disagreement with the federal government.” The following is a statement from Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum.

“We continue to believe Arizona’s law is misguided and unconstitutional and today’s ruling demonstrates we were correct. Judge Bolton’s decision to block portions of the Arizona law demonstrates that the state’s leadership over-reached with SB1070 and consequently stumbled into unconstitutional and hazardous legal territory.

Judge Bolton prevented the following areas of SB1070 from taking effect: requirements that an officer make a reasonable attempt to determine the immigration status of a person stopped, the creation of a crime for the failure to apply for or carry alien registration papers, the creation of a crime for an unauthorized alien to solicit, apply for, or perform work, and finally, authorizing the warrantless arrest of a person where there is probable cause to believe the person has committed a public offense that makes the person removable from the United States.

Meanwhile, local law enforcement will struggle to interpret the remaining portions of SB 1070 and provide training to officers. This will lead to confusion on the ground since it will require Arizona’s police agencies to create a patchwork of guidelines based on varying interpretations of the law that will be burdensome and costly.

As the country waits for the courts to sort out the legal issues stirred up by SB 1070, the federal government must act immediately to fulfill their responsibility and reform our broken immigration system. While we are pleased that Judge Bolton agreed in part with our position to prevent this law from going forward, today’s ruling only underscores the desperate need for comprehensive immigration reform.  Many Americans supported - out of frustration and anger - Arizona’s unconstitutional attempt to create a separate immigration system. However, even greater numbers of Americans support comprehensive immigration reform.

We are grateful the Department of Justice filed suit and the President has voiced his condemnation of SB1070, but it is time for the President to take a more forceful lead on this issue and for Republicans in the United States Senate to come to the negotiating table in good faith. The federal government must lead on immigration reform and it must do so immediately.  To delay only invites other jurisdictions to follow in Arizona’s misguided footsteps, and leaves the underlying problem - our dysfunctional immigration system - to worsen.

Pastor Warren H. Stewart of Phoenix’s First Institutional Baptist Church characterized the fight to fix our broken immigration system and its consequences best when he called it the civil rights struggle of the 21st Century. Like all great struggles, the battle over our broken immigration system will be long and difficult, but we’re confident that we’ll succeed in creating a system that is fair, just, and values the rights and dignity of all.

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