FRoberts
04-14-2010, 03:57 PM
Arizona House OKs Toughest Anti-Illegal Immigrant Law (http://www.aolnews.com/article/arizona-house-oks-toughest-anti-illegal-immigrant-law/19439257)
(April 14) -- Arizona's House has passed the nation's toughest legislation against illegal immigrants, making it a state crime to be undocumented in the United States and compelling local law enforcement agencies to verify the status of anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant.
The House passed the bill 35 to 21 on Tuesday, and Republican Gov. Jan Brewer is expected to sign it into law after further action in the Senate. If the measure becomes law, illegal immigrants in Arizona would be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor, which carries a fine of at least $500, and federal immigration authorities would immediately be notified of their undocumented status.
The bill is widely considered to be one of the most aggressive pieces of anti-illegal immigrant legislation in the country. In Arizona, a border state that's a major gateway for illegal immigrants from Mexico, the bill has been the subject of fierce debate between anti-immigration activists and rights groups, who claim the measure is draconian.
"I think there is overwhelming evidence that Arizona has the most muscular immigration enforcement in the nation," Steven Camarota, of the Center for Immigration Studies, told The Arizona Republic (http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2010/04/13/20100413arizona-immigration-law.html) newspaper. The Washington, D.C.-based group favors tough policies against illegal immigration.
Republican state Sen. Russell Pearce, who introduced the legislation, said it "takes the handcuffs off of law enforcement and lets them do their job."
But immigrant rights groups say it is morally abhorrent and codifies racial profiling. The bill encourages law enforcement to determine the immigration status of a person "where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien."
"It's beyond the pale," said Chris Newman, legal director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "It appears to mandate racial profiling," he told the Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-arizona-immigration14-2010apr14,0,4677282.story).
Police were divided. State unions backed the bill, but the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police lobbied against it over fears the measure would be prohibitively expensive for local law enforcement and could discourage illegal immigrants from cooperating with authorities in criminal investigations. In the end, lawmakers amended the legislation to allow police to disregard a person's legal status in order to investigate a crime.
The measure is intended to criminalize the daily life of illegal immigrants. It makes it illegal, for example, to look for work on the side of a road or be hired in a public place -- a clear strike against day laborers.
Joe Rubio, the head organizer for the liberal Arizona advocacy group Valley Interfaith Project, called the bill "an economic train wreck." "Where do the legislators think business will find workers?" he asked in an interview with The Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304604204575182721466632104.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines).
But the bill was buoyed in recent weeks by the mysterious slaying of Robert Krentz, an Arizona rancher who was shot near the Mexican border. Many believe drug smugglers are to blame, and the rancher's death became a rallying point (http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0331/Robert-Krentz-killing-stokes-fears-of-rampant-illegal-immigration) for anti-immigrant activists after police found footsteps from Krentz's truck to the border.
In the blogosphere today, some warned the bill would lead to a "police state" and a sharp increase in racial profiling.
At TrueSlant (http://trueslant.com/erikkain/2010/04/13/arizona-passes-the-nations-strictest-not-to-mention-silliest-immigration-law/), blogger E.D. Kain said he was embarrassed to be an Arizonan.
"Indeed, now police officers can act on a 'reasonable suspicion' that someone is an illegal immigrant -- as though one can tell one's immigration status simply by the color of their skin!" he wrote. "Did you know that illegal immigrants from Mexico actually look different than their legal Mexican immigrant counter-parts? It's true."
The legislation would require proof of citizenship in order to vote and force public service employees to report suspected illegal immigrants. Phoenix New Times (http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2010/04/russell_pearces_sb1070_welfare.php) blogger Stephen Lemons, who opposed the bill, pointed out that civil rights lawyers have said the measure's language "goes back to the segregationists of the 1960s, who sought to block the 1964 Civil Rights Act."
But Republican state Rep. John Kavanagh said the legislation is simply about enforcing the law. "Police should be allowed to pursue any and all illegalities in this country," he said.
Filed under: Nation (http://www.reptileradio.net/category/nation), Top Stories (http://www.reptileradio.net/category/top-stories)
(April 14) -- Arizona's House has passed the nation's toughest legislation against illegal immigrants, making it a state crime to be undocumented in the United States and compelling local law enforcement agencies to verify the status of anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant.
The House passed the bill 35 to 21 on Tuesday, and Republican Gov. Jan Brewer is expected to sign it into law after further action in the Senate. If the measure becomes law, illegal immigrants in Arizona would be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor, which carries a fine of at least $500, and federal immigration authorities would immediately be notified of their undocumented status.
The bill is widely considered to be one of the most aggressive pieces of anti-illegal immigrant legislation in the country. In Arizona, a border state that's a major gateway for illegal immigrants from Mexico, the bill has been the subject of fierce debate between anti-immigration activists and rights groups, who claim the measure is draconian.
"I think there is overwhelming evidence that Arizona has the most muscular immigration enforcement in the nation," Steven Camarota, of the Center for Immigration Studies, told The Arizona Republic (http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2010/04/13/20100413arizona-immigration-law.html) newspaper. The Washington, D.C.-based group favors tough policies against illegal immigration.
Republican state Sen. Russell Pearce, who introduced the legislation, said it "takes the handcuffs off of law enforcement and lets them do their job."
But immigrant rights groups say it is morally abhorrent and codifies racial profiling. The bill encourages law enforcement to determine the immigration status of a person "where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien."
"It's beyond the pale," said Chris Newman, legal director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "It appears to mandate racial profiling," he told the Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-arizona-immigration14-2010apr14,0,4677282.story).
Police were divided. State unions backed the bill, but the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police lobbied against it over fears the measure would be prohibitively expensive for local law enforcement and could discourage illegal immigrants from cooperating with authorities in criminal investigations. In the end, lawmakers amended the legislation to allow police to disregard a person's legal status in order to investigate a crime.
The measure is intended to criminalize the daily life of illegal immigrants. It makes it illegal, for example, to look for work on the side of a road or be hired in a public place -- a clear strike against day laborers.
Joe Rubio, the head organizer for the liberal Arizona advocacy group Valley Interfaith Project, called the bill "an economic train wreck." "Where do the legislators think business will find workers?" he asked in an interview with The Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304604204575182721466632104.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines).
But the bill was buoyed in recent weeks by the mysterious slaying of Robert Krentz, an Arizona rancher who was shot near the Mexican border. Many believe drug smugglers are to blame, and the rancher's death became a rallying point (http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0331/Robert-Krentz-killing-stokes-fears-of-rampant-illegal-immigration) for anti-immigrant activists after police found footsteps from Krentz's truck to the border.
In the blogosphere today, some warned the bill would lead to a "police state" and a sharp increase in racial profiling.
At TrueSlant (http://trueslant.com/erikkain/2010/04/13/arizona-passes-the-nations-strictest-not-to-mention-silliest-immigration-law/), blogger E.D. Kain said he was embarrassed to be an Arizonan.
"Indeed, now police officers can act on a 'reasonable suspicion' that someone is an illegal immigrant -- as though one can tell one's immigration status simply by the color of their skin!" he wrote. "Did you know that illegal immigrants from Mexico actually look different than their legal Mexican immigrant counter-parts? It's true."
The legislation would require proof of citizenship in order to vote and force public service employees to report suspected illegal immigrants. Phoenix New Times (http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2010/04/russell_pearces_sb1070_welfare.php) blogger Stephen Lemons, who opposed the bill, pointed out that civil rights lawyers have said the measure's language "goes back to the segregationists of the 1960s, who sought to block the 1964 Civil Rights Act."
But Republican state Rep. John Kavanagh said the legislation is simply about enforcing the law. "Police should be allowed to pursue any and all illegalities in this country," he said.
Filed under: Nation (http://www.reptileradio.net/category/nation), Top Stories (http://www.reptileradio.net/category/top-stories)