 Arizona’s new immigration law is just over a week old, yet it continues to polarize public opinion as advocates and critics seek to bolster support through marches, boycotts, and using mainstream media as a platform for their positions.
A report on NPR finds that San Francisco, St. Paul, and Denver are prohibiting their employees from travelling to Arizona on business, while other cities including Los Angeles, San Diego, Washington and Austin are considering similar measures.
The Arizona Republic reports that The Arizona Hotel and Lodging Association has seen the early impact of the law’s passage in dollars and cents. Nearly two dozen meetings that were to have been held in the state have been cancelled, translating into a vacancy of 15,000 room nights. Read more from The Arizona Republic by clicking here.
This could also be bad business for Arizona’s capital city as opponents of the law are threatening to keep the next Republican National Convention and Major League Baseball's 2011 All-Star Game out of Phoenix.
In February, the Republican National Committee announced that it was a finalist for the 2010 Republican National Convention, according to the Phoenix Business Journal . The convention - which is expected to take place in late August or around Labor Day of 2010 – would mean a big business opportunity for Phoenix in a time of a severe economic downfall.
Yet overall, most people seem to favor the law. A new poll from the Gallup organization shows that, of Americans who are familiar with the immigration law, just over half, or 51%, favor the law while 39% oppose it. The poll was conducted in the days following Governor Brewer’s signing it into law. For more results from the poll, click here.
Four lawsuits were filed last week against Arizona’s new anti-immigration bill, including two from police officers acting on their own behalf, and another by the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders. The suits seek an injunction to stop implementation of the law and also challenge its constitutionality, arguing that it is the federal government’s responsibility to regulate immigration. The suits also allege that the new law will lead to racial profiling. Read more from the Arizona Daily Star and the Los Angeles Times.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund are strongly opposed to the Arizona bill and have indicated that they will also file legal challenges in the days ahead. The ACLU’s motto in the fight is “What Happens in Arizona Stops in Arizona.” The San Francisco City Attorney has called for a boycott against Arizona, the first of what’s expected to be multiple calls for punitive action against the state.
The measure is known as SB 1070 and makes it a state crime for migrants to be in the country without legal documentation. It also allows police to stop anyone on “reasonable suspicion”– click here to read the language of SB 1070. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer says that the citizens of Arizona are fed up and afraid, and that frustration and anger resulted in this proposal.
Other border states such as California and Texas have spent the last few decades cracking down on the issue, enforcing hundreds of local immigration laws. According to the Wall Street Journal, the local immigration laws in California and Texas have been enacted with a focus on restricting access to everything from jobs to drivers' licenses by way of three-tier fencing, motion-detection devices, and remote control cameras. As a result, Arizona became the main avenue for migrants to illegal entry into the U.S.
Yet comprehensive immigration reform is possible only when opposing sides are willing to come together. A study published December 2008 by The Communications Institute (AnalysisOnline is its research arm) and the University of Arizona’s Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy on the role of immigrants in the economy shows that illegal immigrants living in Texas – another border state with Mexico - contributed over $17 billion dollars to the state’s economy in 2006. The study is titled “Arizona’s Economy and the Legal Arizona Worker’s Act” and authored by Judith Gans, Program Manager for Immigration Policy at the Center. Gans concludes that balancing income from consumption taxes with the cost of social services provided to illegal immigrants results in net fiscal benefits at the federal level, and disproportionate fiscal costs at the state and local levels. The research was undertaken prior to the dramatic economic downturn in the U.S. economy.
Click here to read a discussion of whether consensus on immigration reform can be achieved, part of an immigration forum sponsored by The Communications Institute.
Hiroshi Motomura, Professor of Law at UCLA’s School of Law and author of “Americans in Waiting: The Lost Story of Immigration and Citizenship in the United States,” states in a recent opinion piece featured by the New York Times, “This standard [reasonable suspicion] gives institutional cover for selective immigration enforcement through racial and ethnic profiling, and for this reason it will lead to constitutional violations if the statute goes into effect… Arizona is attempting to enact its own immigration regime and allow selective enforcement.” Click here to read more.
Steven Camarota, Director of Research at the Center for Immigration Studies, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington D.C., defends the new measure, arguing that it was designed to mirror federal regulation. “The law is specifically designed to avoid the legal pitfall of ‘pre-emption,’ which means a state can’t enact laws that conflict with federal statutes. By simply making what is a federal violation also a state violation, the Arizona law avoids this problem.” Click here to read more of Mr. Camarota’s opinions in a piece in the N.Y. Times.
In her first interview since signing the bill into law on April 30, Governor Jan Brewer went “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” to talk about the measure and why it vital to the state of Arizona. She says it is her responsibility as Governor to protect the citizens of Arizona from the devastating consequences of illegal immigration, including kidnappings, automobile accidents, extortion, and drug trafficking. Since taking office in January, Gov. Brewer has written numerous letters to the Obama Administration regarding the matter and says she never received a response. The result? Senate Bill 1070. “We have no other choice,” she says.
Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), was also interviewed by Van Susteren and said that the bill is in violation of the fourth amendment – which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures and requires search and arrest warrants supported by probable cause - click here to view the Bill of Rights. Sinema says she is prepared for battle and ready to sue on constitutional grounds.
There seems to be a consensus that illegal immigration is a critical issue that must be addressed, though no consensus on how to accomplish that goal. Even President Obama said he thinks it’s unlikely that immigration reform will be tackled this year because of the mid-term elections this fall and another big issue, climate change, that‘s on Congress’ agenda. Read more of the President’s comments in the Washington Post.
Yet unless SB 1070 is enjoined by the federal courts, it is expected to take effect in 90 days at the end of July or early August. In judging whether or not Arizona’s immigration enforcement law adheres to the Constitution, there is no doubt that Arizona must ensure that basic civil rights are protected. Ultimately, the courts will decide the issue. Public involvement is now driving the debate after tens of thousands of protestors converged in cities across the nation last weekend to march for immigration reform and denounce Arizona’s new anti-immigration law. According to the Los Angeles Times, the city, which is home to more than 3 million foreign-born inhabitants, held the largest May Day rally in the country with an estimated 40,000 to 60,000 people.
To learn more about immigration issues, click here.
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