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Legal eagle: SB1070 will survive challengesby Jim Cross/KTAR (June 3rd, 2010 @ 7:14am)
PHOENIX -- ABC legal analyst Royal Oakes believes Senate Bill 1070, Arizona's new immigration law, will stand up to courtroom challenges, although he says, "It's going to be a long drawn-out process."
The law, which takes effect July 29, is being challenged as unconstitutional and on grounds that it will lead to racial profiling as police ask the immigration status of people they have reasonable suspicion may be in the United States illegally.
When it comes to the racial profiling claim, Oakes said, "The bill could not be more clear. It bans racial profiling. Critics, however, say, `Well, okay, it's fine to ban it. But, if you're a police officer, don't you have the power now to stop -- say 90 out of 100 people -- as they drive by?`"
As for claims that it's unconstitutional, he said, "The Fourth Amendment guarantees against unreasonable searches and seizures. The 14th Amendment allows everybody equal protection and due process rights. Some people say that this law gives police so much power that, really, it tramples on those constitutional rights."
Oakes sees as the biggest challenge: "Does Arizona even have a right to pass a law like this or is it exclusively the power of the federal government to regulate immigration?"
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Anger over Obama's meeting with Brewerby Associated Press (June 3rd, 2010 @ 6:04am)
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's planned meeting Thursday with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer faces a protest from opponents of Arizona's new immigration law.
Opponents say the law, which Brewer signed, is discriminatory and say Obama isn't doing enough on immigration reform.
Brewer is to meet Obama at the White House, and opponents said they will hold a demonstration there to denounce the Republican governor, ``the discriminatory Arizona law she signed'' and ``President Obama's halfhearted leadership on immigration reform.''
Supporters of an overhaul of U.S. immigration law have accused Obama of not pushing Congress hard enough to pass immigration legislation. Some have said Arizona's law and tough immigration laws in other states are symptoms of a broken immigration system.
Arizona's new law, scheduled to take effect July 29, will require police enforcing any other law to examine immigration status if there is reasonable suspicion a person is in the country illegally. It also makes being in the country illegally a state crime.
Obama says the law is the wrong approach to illegal immigration and his administration is combing through it and preparing for a possible legal challenge. Brewer has been soliciting donations from the law's supporters to defend it.
In an interview Wednesday, Brewer said she hoped she and Obama could agree on solutions to improve border security.
Brewer said she wants to know how Obama's plan to deploy up to 1,200 National Guard troops to the border with Mexico will affect Arizona and what else he has in mind to tighten border security.
She said she'll make a pitch for her own proposal calling for more troops on the border, deployment of helicopters and surveillance drones and completion of a border fence.
The White House said it would lay out for Brewer the ``unprecedented resources'' dedicated over the past 16 months to secure the border.
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Hispanics flee Arizona ahead of immigration law
By Alan Gomez, USA TODAY
Arizona's tough new immigration enforcement law is fueling an exodus of Hispanics from the state seven weeks before it goes into effect, according to officials and residents in the state.
Though no one has precise figures, reports from school officials, businesses and individuals indicate worried Hispanics — both legal and illegal — are leaving the state in anticipation of the law, which will go into effect July 29.
Schools in Hispanic areas report unusual drops in enrollment. The Balsz Elementary School District is 75% Hispanic, and within a month of the law's passage, the parents of 70 students pulled them out of school, said District Superintendent Jeffrey Smith. The district lost seven students over the same one-month period last year, and parents tell Smith the Arizona law is the reason for leaving.
"They're leaving to another state where they feel more welcome," he said.
The measure, signed into law April 23 by Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, requires a police officer to determine a person's immigration status if they are stopped, detained or arrested and there is "reasonable suspicion" they are in the country illegally.
About 100,000 illegal immigrants left Arizona after the state passed a law in 2007 that enhanced penalties on businesses that hired them, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Some early signs suggest another exodus.
Businesses serving the Hispanic community say business is down, signaling that illegal immigrants are holding on to cash in anticipation of a move from the state, said David Castillo, co-founder of the Latin Association of Arizona, a chamber of commerce for nearly 400 first-generation Hispanic business owners.
"(Brewer) signed the law, and everything fell apart," Castillo said. "It's devastating."
Jorge Vargas plans to move to New York City because his air-conditioning business relies mostly on Hispanics. "My business is completely dead," he said.
Juan Carlos Cruz, an illegal immigrant who has worked in plant nurseries for 20 years, huddled with dozens of relatives over the Memorial Day Weekend in the backyard of his brother's Phoenix-area home to plot out the family's next move to avoid what they say will be harassment by police. Virginia and California are the front-runners.
"If I were alone, I'd try to stay. But I have a family, and I have to find a place where we can live with more freedom," said Cruz, who hopes to move July 4 to blend in with holiday weekend traffic. "This is getting too hard."
Paul Senseman, a spokesman for Brewer, said it's difficult to gauge how many people are leaving because of the law, but he said he hears similar reports of people leaving the state.
"If that means that fewer people are breaking the law, that is absolutely an accomplishment," he said.
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San Jose condemns AZ immigration law
by Associated Press (June 9th, 2010 @ 9:52am)
SAN JOSE, Calif. - San Jose officials have condemned Arizona's tough new law targeting illegal immigration but have stopped short of an economic boycott of the state.
The City Council on Tuesday voted 9-2 to denounce the immigration law, prohibit city employees from traveling to the state on official business and support legal challenges filed by other groups.
But council members said they didn't think a boycott was appropriate given the city's financial troubles.
San Jose has contracts with Arizona companies for garbage collection and stun guns that are worth millions of dollars.
Los Angeles, Oakland and San Francisco are among the California cities that have passed economic boycotts of the state.
Arizona's new law allows police enforcing other laws to question people about their immigration status.
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Doctor questions AZ immigration law
by Bob McClay/KTAR (June 8th, 2010 @ 3:16pm)
PHOENIX -- Arizona doctors have questions about Arizona's new immigration law.
Dr. Lucas Restrepo of Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, outlined the worries in a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Restrepo said doctors are concerned because the law "specifies that those who conceal, harbor or shield or attempt to conceal, harbor or shield a foreign person who came to the United States illegally are guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor."
If a doctor treats an illegal immigrant, Restrepo said, "someone could advance the argument that they are shielding or concealing that person."
Restrep said his job is to treat his patients.
"It is not my job to inquire about their legal status, their papers or whether they have violated any laws."
Restrepo said firefighters and paramedics are specifically exempt from the harboring provisions of the law, but doctors are not.
"Any physician has to protect his patients. If I'm going to go around asking whether they have violated the law, whether they are here legally or illegally, then I think I'm going to betray my intentions to help patients and to help people regain their health."
Restrepo added, "My job is very precise. I try to help a person get better. Whether they're criminal, whether they're law-abiding, whether they're a nice person or a terrible person, whether they're Republican or Democrat, I could not care less."
Restrepo said he has called several legislators with his questions, but has no answer on whether doctors, people who work in hospitals and other workers in the medical community are exempt.
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Gay groups denounce AZ immigration law
by KTAR.com (June 8th, 2010 @ 3:18pm)
PHOENIX -- More than 20 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality groups condemned Arizona's new immigration law Tuesday, saying it gives license to discriminate.
The groups issued a joint statement, saying, "Arizona's SB1070 takes the state down a path that will lead to racial profiling, discrimination and anti-immigrant extremism. We stand in solidarity with other individuals, organizations and local governments in rejecting the misrepresentation of immigrants put forth in this unjust and ill-conceived measure."
The statement continued: "SB1070 essentially declares an entire class of people to be inherently criminal on the basis of their race and appearance. The consequences of SB1070 are grave and troubling: the inevitability of racial profiling and infringement of civil liberties; the strong probability of violence and harassment against individuals and their families; and the reversal of progress toward creating a more inclusive society."
The groups said Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed the immigration bill, is the same governor who last year "stripped away" health insurance benefits from same-sex domestic partners of state employees.
"Brewer's actions as governor demonstrate, at best, callous indifference -- and, at worst, willful malice -- toward immigrants and LGBT people alike," the statement said.
It said all Arizona families have reason to be alarmed.
"The state's new law threatens to tear apart families, separate children from their parents and rip apart loving couples who are building their lives together."
The LGBT groups said they would join others in a boycott against Arizona until SB1070 is repealed or thrown out by the courts.
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SB1070 could be affecting schools, businesses
by Bob McClay, Sandra Haros, Kevin Tripp/KTAR (June 10th, 2010 @ 7:11am)
PHOENIX -- Arizona's immigration law, which takes effect July 29, already is affecting some schools and small businesses, according to people close to the situations.
The Balsz Elementary School District in Phoenix is 75 percent Hispanic, and it's been losing students.
"We went back to when the law was signed and then to today. We have 95 fewer students than we did before the law," said Superintendent Jeff Smith.
"People have told our staff in the school that they are leaving," Smith said. "They may say that they're going to different places -- other states perhaps or perhaps back to Mexico."
Smith said it's his "understanding" that the exodus is specifically because SB1070 is about to become law.
Counting students' parents and other relatives, Smith estimates that as many as 500 people have left the district because of the law.
Smith said the drop in enrollment hasn't affected the district's budget -- yet.
"Funding in Arizona is based on the prior year, so we will be funded next year based on the number of students we have this year... Our staff should feel secure with their jobs and so on for next year. The following year is a different story. If enrollment goes down, we would need to make reductions."
He said the district will work hard to educate the students it has.
"The United States Constitution is very clear. We are given the responsibility to educate anyone who lives and resides in our area, in our community. That is the law, and we will continue to follow the law and the U.S. Constitution until such time as that changes."
SB1070 also is taking a toll on Arizona's small businesses, according to James Garcia with the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
"Mom and pop operations -- many of which really came to exist because the immigrant populations were there -- are probably suffering the most, in the most immediate ways," said Garcia.
He said no official data has been gathered, but business owners are reporting business is way down.
"I've talked to some of these people -- people who own a boot shop, people who own a hair salon. They're essentially saying, `I'm losing a lot of my customers. People are leaving. They are making the decision to move.'"
He added, "If they run a salon, if they run a small restaurant, those people are taking a real hard hit on a very short-term, immediate basis. If you go door-to-door with those businesses, that's what they're going to tell you, `We're losing our customer base.'"
Garcia said the failure of businesses that cater to the immigrant community would have a ripple effect on the entire community and the whole state.
Gov. Jan Brewer's office said that citizens and legal residents have no reason to leave Arizona and questioned whether there are facts to support falling enrollment and spending by Hispanics.
The governor's spokesman, Paul Senseman, said it might be a little early to say Hispanic school enrollment is plummeting.
"There doesn't appear to be any empirical evidence that this is occuring at all," Senseman said, although he said he has heard anecdotal stories about students leaving.
When it comes to businesses, Senseman said there are lots of economic forces at work, such as the housing crisis and the recession.
"Other things are creating shifts in our economy. There's no doubt it's happening nationally. Arizona is not the only state."
Boycotts of Arizona because of the new law also are to blame, Senseman said.
Asked what a businessman should think if he sees his customer base falling, Senseman said, "I would be furious with people like Congressman (Raul) Grijalva, who have suggested that businesses boycott and that people leave. It is our own Arizona congressman who has suggested that out-of-state businesses should boycott these kind of Arizona businesses."
Legal residents and citizens shouldn't fear the new law, Senseman said, adding that he thinks there's lots of misinformation out there.
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Jun 08, 2010
Big jump in Latino registration for Democrats unlikely to turn Arizona blue
The number of Latinos registering to vote as Democrats in Arizona has jumped from 100 a week to 500 in the seven weeks since a tough new immigration law was adopted, The Arizona Republic reports.
The newspaper says many of those registering are young Latino citizens whose parents may be undocumented.
But, the newspaper says, the electoral impact may not be as great as in California after passage of a GOP-sponsored ballot initiative in 1994 to clamp down on illegal immigration by prohibiting undocumented people from receiving health care, public education and other services.
That measure, which was later declared unconstitutional, is widely viewed as solidifying California's growing Latino population as Democratic and tipping the then-Republican state to a solidly Democratic one, the newspaper says.
But such a shift is less likely in Arizona, the newspaper notes, because the Latino vote is lower than in California and there are also fewer non-Hispanics with whom to ally to overturn the state's traditional conservative voting pattern.
Arizona also does not have the large unions to help organize the Latino vote as in California, The Republic says.
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Mayors mull proposal to condemn SB1070
by Associated Press (June 14th, 2010 @ 7:02am)
OKLAHOMA CITY - The U.S. Conference of Mayors will vote Monday on a proposal that condemns Arizona's new immigration law and asks Congress for an immigration overhaul that includes a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants now living in the country.
The nonbinding resolution being considered at the group's annual meeting in Oklahoma City notes that the law has inspired a boycott of Arizona and says Congress' inaction on immigration led to the passage of the Arizona law.
The proposal also notes that similar proposals were being considered in other states.
The Arizona law requires police, while enforcing other laws, to question a person's immigration status if officers have a reasonable suspicion that the person is in the country illegally.
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Mayors condemn AZ immigration lawby Associated Press (June 14th, 2010 @ 11:58am)
OKLAHOMA CITY - The U.S. Conference of Mayors has approved two resolutions condemning Arizona's new immigration law and asking Congress for an overhaul of federal immigration policies.
The resolutions approved Monday were supported by a majority of the estimated 200 mayors attending the conference in Oklahoma City.
Conference spokeswoman Elena Temple-Webb says both resolutions were approved on a voice vote, with some opposition to both measures.
The first resolution opposing the Arizona law was sponsored by Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon. It opposes the enactment of similar laws in other states.
A second resolution by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa calls for the repeal of the Arizona law and calls upon Congress to pass comprehensive changes to immigration law.
