The Arizona SB 1070: A Good Law

This law was sending a very strong message to all of the illegal aliens living in Arizona. The SB-1070 was written deliberately with aggressive measures intended to promote to the estimated 460,000 illegal aliens to go home (About, 2011). The issue with some parts of the bill was that it was racially profiling, and it promoted discrimination against mainly immigrants. The federal judge also stopped the section of the law that made it a crime for any for any foreign resident living in the state of Arizona to carry immigration paperwork at all times. In addition, the judge also stopped the part where it would make it a crime for any illegal or foreign resident living in the state of Arizona to solicit, perform, or apply for work. This gave illegal aliens living in state of Arizona a big relief to know that those main parts of the bill were stopped, giving them the advantage to continue to move forward with their lives instead of worrying about getting deported.

Back in 2007 there were several concerns over immigration as a whole and exploding proportions of illegal immigrants crossing the border in the Arizona area. Arizona attempted to resolve the influx of people across the border by imposing heavy fines on employers hiring illegal immigrants. At that time in Arizona there was a democratic governor Janet Napolitano that continually vetoed the Arizona’s legislature attempt to reduce illegal immigration. In 2009 the state replaced the Democratic governor with a Republican governor Jan Brewer who was supportive of reforms for immigration in Arizona. In 2010 the immigration problem was so sever that Arizona passed legislation allowing the state to enforce federal law for identification of legal immigration into the United States. This sparked a nation wide discussion on illegal immigration and immigration reform.

Illegal immigration is an unintend¬ed result of federal immigration restric¬tions from the shortage of green cards (permanent residence) and temporary work visas available for migrants (Nowrasteh 2). Currently, 73% of the 11.5 million illegal immigrants nationally are located in ten states, including Arizona (Nowrasteh 2). Between 2000 and 2008, Arizona experienced a large increase of illegal immigrants from 330,000 to 560,000 (Nowrasteh 2). The costs of the housing bust and the Great Recession

In this paper I argue that S.B. 1070 should be not be upheld for two reasons. First, in ways that will be explicated below, S.B. 1070 directly conflicts with federal immigration law; thus it is preempted according to the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. Second, the law is unconstitutional because it allows for discrimination by police officers on the basis of race or national origin. This Note contends that the Ninth Circuit correctly affirmed the decision of the lower court to find S.B. 1070 preempted by federal immigration law; however the Ninth Circuit should have also found that S.B. 1070 is unconstitutional on discriminatory grounds. Part II discusses the evolution of the relevant case law. Part III of the Note illustrates the relevant portions of S.B. 1070 and the District Court’s reasoning in United States v. Arizona. Part IV explains why the Ninth Circuit correctly affirmed the decision that S.B. 1070 is preempted by federal immigration law and expounds how the law is also discriminatory on the basis of national origin against Hispanics. Finally, Part V comments on the possible consequences of S.B. 1070 and the effect of a Supreme Court decision to either affirm or reverse the injunction.

The state of Arizona has issued a new state law which enables police officers to act as immigration officers. With this underestimated powers given to the police, it will cause a lot of problems, and sensitivities to all the legal and illegal immigrants (Cnn.com). Undocumented students residing Arizona will be in a constant fear of being deported since any minor issue such as calling the police for help in any case given can put their lives in the danger of deportation. It’s only a matter of time if the government doesn’t stop this act, Arizona will impose unfair laws for education toward undocumented students. This will only cause chaos, and taking away the validity of the American Dream.

According to the author of this law, Mr. Russell Pearce, the state senator of Arizona’s 18th legislative district and the author of the new Arizona law SB 1070, argues that the United States Federal Government has not been doing their job correctly. The new law gives police officers the power to enforce immigration law. Pearce stated that police officers will not abuse of their powers given by the SB 1070 law because the SB 1070 clearly states the law provisions and how to enforce it. Therefore, he took the lead and implemented this law on his state to eliminate undocumented people at least in Arizona. Through this law police officers will have the power of prosecute anyone who is suspicious of being an illegal alien.

There has been many laws and regulations passed, to try and prevent illegal migrants from working in the United States. In all states, businesses “Are required by federal law to check the legal status of all new hires. They must fill out federal form 1-9 to show that each worker holds federally acceptable residency documents, like a driver’s license or social security card” (Speizer 1). Although they must do all of those things, they are not required to check the authenticity of the documents. In Arizona that has all changed, a new law has been passed that makes it mandatory for all employers to participate in E-Verify “in which information from 1-9 documents can be checked through databases at the Social Security Administration or the Department of Homeland Security” (Speizer 2). This used to be something businesses could voluntarily partake in, but has now become mandatory in Arizona. Under this law they have created harsh punishments for employers who knowingly hire undocumented migrants. One of these harsh punishments includes the loss of the employer’s business license, if it is a reoccurring issue. They hope that this new law will decrease the amount of undocumented workers in the state and create more jobs for their own U.S. citizens.

It is clear that illegal immigration has gotten out of control and constringent measures need to be taken to protect the United States borders. The local Government of Arizona recently decided to take control of the situation, by passing the “Support our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act” {House Bill 2162}. This bill gives law enforcement officers and agencies the authority, to lawfully stop, detain and arrest anyone who appears to look like an illegal alien. The bill out-right condones racial profiling and it violates civil rights, as well!

Ever since Arizona passed its tough immigration law penalizing undocumented immigrants, other states have been considering similar laws. In the year 2011, Utah State passed an immigration law like HB 116. The law HB 116 establishes a guest worker program with the department of public safety (DPS) and took effect in July, 2013.The program creates two types of permits – A guest worker permit and an immediate family permit. These permit has a state limit and cannot be used outside the state and the person using this will not be granted unemployment. Before applying an individual have to pay a fine. For getting a permit, immigrant must meet with certain requirements example meets a certain age; worked or have live before May, 2011; provides contact information; not committed any felonies; has a contract for employment; holds a driving privilege card or agrees not to drive; has a basic health care plan or has no medical debt. They require that the permit holder

On April 23rd, 2010, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed Senate Bill 1070, “The Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act” which it gives the police authority to check immigration status of any individual. The main intention of SB1070 is to cut down a majority of the illegal immigrants entering the United States by having the immigrants carry immigration papers to prove their identification of their legal status. However, SB1070 had focused more on trying to secure the border resulting into taking the citizens’ constitutional rights while causing uproar with a large amount of controversy. The senate bill 1070 that has been passed is causing racial profiling, unconstitutional acts, and has put the federal government into question

This writer believes that introduction of the controversial S.B. 1070 was formulated over generations of hate that has been building up from the lack of the federal government to adequately regulate immigration on the southern border of the United States. When Arizona presented the controversial S.B. 1070, this caused many Hispanics across the state to feel “elements of racial profiling, causing fear, confusion, and race-based hostility toward them and their communities” (Campbell, 2011, p 19). However, what many Hispanics do not understand is that the Arizona has been, over time, attempting to pass and also implement other variations of anti-immigration laws, which many have begun to call “e state-sanctioned ethnic-cleansing

Last April 2010, Arizona signed into law one of the harshest Immigration laws this country has ever known. It requires that individual’s residing in Arizona carry documentation proving their right to be in the country legally. Several of the local police in Tucson and Phoenix disagree with the law saying that it puts enmity between them and the residents, while the courts say it will give them more authority and the tools they need to get offenders off the streets.

In the article titled "Dying to Work" there is an excellent quote given by Rep. Kolbe says, “There are no two countries in the world that share a border where the economic disparities are greater than between the U.S. and Mexico.” (AZ Republic, 2002) My paper draws on the information from the “Worldwide Refugee Information: Country Report: Mexico” written in 2000 and the article titled “Dying to Work: The Arizona Republic” written in 2001. Both of these articles give numerous information about the Mexican Immigrants and refugees. I am focusing on the illegal Mexican immigrants as well as refugees that enter the U.S. through refugee status, because living in Arizona, there are

10) There is a group called the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund that supports Cedillo 's idea of allowing illegal aliens to posses driver 's licenses, but feel that there should not be any background checks or other restrictions(Kline par. 13). The MALDEF feel that every citizen of Mexico coming into California should receive a license, whether they are criminals or not. The old bill, AB 1463, was vetoed in the year 2000 by former Governor Gray Davis. Davis stated that AB 1463 was an "invitation for fraud (House par. 9)." But once Davis 's job was starting to crumble, he decided to pass the new bill ,AB 60, to try and gain more support from legal and illegal Hispanics in the state of California before he was recalled. After what had happened on September 11, 2001, Gil Cedillo withdrew the bill from Gray Davis 's files. However, recently the new governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has been trying to bring a new a bill with more qualifications ,such as a special mark on the licenses to indicate that the holder is illegal, to help bring driver 's licenses to illegal immigrants (Kline par. 12). With this bill in effect, illegal immigrants would have the opportunity to vote for an official of the state and country they are living in illegally.

There are many, many issues when it comes to immigration and migration. Nothing is just black and white, and there is always at least two sides to a story, usually more than that. I’m going to tell my side, or at least the side that I see the most of living in Arizona, a border state to Mexico. Being that the issue of immigration is so broad, I’ve narrowed it down to the most important question to me, living in the southwest, concerning Mexican/American border issues. Is it the immigrants themselves that are the problem or is it the laws governing immigration? This is a big debate amongst politicians, activists, students, citizens, non-citizens, and everyone in between. I think that the problem