Arizona New Immigration Law

Arizona New Immigration Law

Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona signed the nation's toughest bill on illegal immigration into law in April 2010. Its aim is to identify, prosecute and deport illegal immigrants. The Arizona law, threatened to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and our communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe. The law, which proponents and critics alike said was the broadest and strictest immigration measure in generations, would make the failure to carry immigration documents a crime and give the police broad power to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally. Opponents have called it an open invitation for harassment and discrimination against Hispanics regardless of their citizenship status. (www.washingtonexaminer.com)

President Obama is holding up the law as a prime example of state governments' "irresponsibility" on the issue—and therefore a key reason to speed up federal immigration reform. The President of Mexico is angry, protesters have smeared swastikas made out of refried beans on the Arizona House and Senate buildings' glass doors, and civil rights activists denounce the law as a blow to constitutional rights and an invitation to racial profiling (blog.heritage.org)

The Law

The law requires police to ask for immigration papers from anyone whom they have a "reasonable suspicion" might be in the country illegally. Law-enforcement officials are also empowered to detain anyone they hold in such suspicion. (www.washingtonexaminer.com)

It's also a state crime under the new law for immigrants to be found without immigration papers; individual citizens, meanwhile, can file suit against state agencies that fail to enforce the law. Police can detain and demand papers from anyone they have "lawful contact" with, but since the law defines illegal immigrants as trespassing when in any part of the United States, this gives the police the freedom to question people otherwise not breaking the law or engaging in suspicious activity. Those found to be in the state illegally can be thrown in jail for six months and fined $2,500, an escalation from the federal punishment of deportation. (blog.heritage.org)

Current Scenario

According to Princeton political scientist Douglas Massey, the number of illegal immigrants dropped by 100,000 in Arizona over just the last year, and has fallen from 12.6 million in 2008 to 10.8 million in 2009 country-wide, as the recession means fewer jobs for immigrants and U.S. citizens alike.

But a combination of factors has brought the immigration ...