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ACLU issues travel warnings to Arizona (June 30th, 2010 @ 2:37pm)
By BOB CHRISTIE
Associated Press Writer
PHOENIX (AP) - The nation's top civil liberties group on Wednesday issued travel alerts for Arizona, saying the state's new law cracking down on illegal immigrants could lead to racial profiling and warrantless arrests.
American Civil Liberties Union affiliates in Arizona, New Mexico and 26 other states put out the warnings in advance of the Fourth of July weekend. The Arizona chapter has received reports that law enforcement officers are already targeting some people even though the law doesn't take effect until July 29, its executive director said.
The alerts are designed to teach people about their rights if police stop and question them.
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. It also makes it a state crime for legal immigrants to not carry their immigration documents and bans day laborers and people who seek their services from blocking traffic on streets.
Attorneys defending the law against constitutional challenges filed by the ACLU and others argue that the Legislature amended it to strengthen restrictions against using race as the basis for questioning by police. Five lawsuits are pending in federal court, and the U.S. Justice Department is believed to be preparing a legal challenge.
Despite the legislative action, the ACLU still believes that officers will inappropriately target minorities.
"We have a long history of racial profiling in this state, and this is basically going to really exacerbate that problem," said Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of the ACLU of Arizona.
The ACLU's warnings were accompanied by a "bust card" that citizens or non-citizens can print out or download to their mobile phone instructing them about their rights during encounters with police.
"There is a tremendous amount of misinformation out there about the law," Soler Meetze said. "It's a very complicated piece of legislation that gives police unprecedented powers to stop and question people about their identity and their citizenship. I think it is important for people to have this information easily accessible."
New Mexico's ACLU warned residents that their driver's license may not be accepted as proof that they are in the country legally. The state is one of four that still issues licenses to illegal immigrants.
Arizona's police training board is developing a video training program expected to be revealed Thursday for the state's 15,000 law officers. An outline of the training program said it will teach officers that race and ethnicity cannot be used as targets when enforcing the new illegal immigration law.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed the law in late April, setting off a firestorm of protests from immigrant rights supporters and an equally vociferous response from supporters of the state's efforts to tackle its illegal immigration problem.
A phone message and an e-mail seeking comment from the governor's office on the ACLU action wasn't immediately returned Wednesday.
Besides ACLU affiliates in Arizona and New Mexico, chapters in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming issued the alerts.
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ACLU "Bust Card"
IF YOU ARE STOPPED FOR QUESTIONING:
Stay calm. Don't run. Don't argue, resist or obstruct the police, even if you are innocent or police are violating your rights. Keep your hands where police can see them.
Ask if you are free to leave. If the officer says yes, calmly and silently walk away. If you are under arrest, you have a right to know why.
You have the right to remain silent and cannot be punished for refusing to answer questions. If you wish to remain silent, tell the officer out loud. In some states, you must give your name if asked to identify yourself.
You do not have to consent to a search of yourself or your belongings, but police may "pat down" your clothing if they suspect a weapon. You should not physically resist, but you have the right to refuse consent for any further search. If you do consent, it can affect you later in court.
IF YOU ARE STOPPED IN YOUR CAR:
Stop the car in a safe place as quickly as possible. Turn off the car, turn on the internal light, open the window part way and place your hands on the wheel.
Upon request, show police your driver's license, registration and proof of insurance.
If an officer or immigration agent asks to look inside your car, you can refuse to consent to the search. But if police believe your car contains evidence of a crime, your car can be searched without your consent.
Both drivers and passengers have the right to remain silent. If you are a passenger, you can ask if you are free to leave. If the officer says yes, sit silently or calmly leave. Even if the officer says no, you have the right to remain silent.
ACLU Bust Card
There is more to it than this, see the rest of the article.
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Where is Arizona anyway? Isnt that near Iowa between Cuba and Puerto Rico state lines?
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AZ to release immigration training plan for copsby Associated Press (July 1st, 2010 @ 5:57am)
PHOENIX - Arizona officials plan to release a training program Thursday designed to teach police officers to enforce a tough new crackdown on illegal immigration without racially profiling.
An hour-long video and supporting paperwork will be sent to all 170 Arizona police agencies and publicly released Thursday morning.
Officials released an outline for the video in May.
It will emphasize the importance of professionalism, ethics and integrity, as well as an officer's duty to protect civil rights, according to the outline.
Retired immigration agents also will describe how federal officers are trained to avoid racial profiling and the documents that immigrants are required to carry.
And officers will be taught how to contact federal immigration authorities or local officers certified by the federal government to determine someone's immigration status.
Gov. Jan Brewer ordered the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board to develop the training when she signed the law April 23.
Police bosses will decide the best way to teach their forces. But there is no requirement that all 15,000 Arizona police officers complete the training before the law takes effect July 29.
Opponents have challenged the measure as unconstitutional and have asked that a federal court block it from taking effect. U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton plans to hear arguments on the request later this month.
Arizona's law generally requires police officers enforcing another law to question a person's immigration status if there's a reasonable suspicion that the person is in the country illegally.
It restricts the use of race, color or national origin as the basis for triggering immigration questions. But civil rights groups and some police officials argue that officers will still assume that illegal immigrants look Hispanic.
Arizona's law was passed in part with the lobbying muscle of unions representing rank-and-file police officers who argued that they should be allowed to arrest illegal immigrants they come across.
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Judge sets hearing for new immigration lawby Associated Press (June 30th, 2010 @ 5:40pm)
PHOENIX - A federal judge set a July 15 for hearing arguments about whether she ought to block Arizona's new immigration law from taking effect.
A Phoenix police officer who filed one of the five challenges to the new law had asked U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton to hold a hearing on his preliminary injunction request before the law takes effect July 29.
Lawyers for the state say the challenges should be dismissed because the suits are based on mere speculation that the law will harm people and predict that the law will be found constitutional. The judge will also hear a request by the state to throw out the officer's lawsuit.
In another lawsuit challenging the law, Bolton set similar hearings for July 22.
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Judge stops crucial parts of SB1070
by KTAR Newsroom and Associated Press (July 28th, 2010 @ 10:05pm)
PHOENIX -- A watered down version of what once was the nation's toughest immigration law will go into effect Thursday after a federal judge pulled most of the teeth in the law.
U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton issued an injunction Wednesday against certain provisions of the law that has been the subject of nationwide debate and boycotts.
The judge agreed with the U.S. Justice Department that certain parts of the law pre-empt powers reserved to the federal government in the Constitution.
Those included requiring that an officer pursue the immigration status of any person stopped if they have reasonable suspicion the person is in the United States illegally; making it a crime to fail to apply for or carry alien registration papers; making it a crime for an illegal immigrant to solicit, apply for or perform work; and allowing the arrest of a person for a crime that makes the person removable from the United States.
Other parts of the law will take effect Thursday.
Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed the law in May saying Arizona must act to secure the Arizona-Mexico border because the federal government has failed to do so, called Bolton's ruling a "bump in the road."
"This fight is far from over. In fact, it is just the beginning and at the end of what is certain to be a long legal struggle, Arizona will prevail in its right to protect our citizens," Brewer said.
The state planned to appeal Bolton's injunction to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, possibly later Wednesday.
The architect of the law, State Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, denounced Bolton's ruling.
"She ignored case law... We'll win on appeal," Pearce told News/Talk 92.3 KTAR's Bruce St. James.
Pearce said Bolton's ruling "is absolutely outside the law. She's inserted opinion here."
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, a Democrat who is challenging Brewer this fall and who stepped away from defending the Arizona law in the courts, said he hoped the law still would send a message to the federal government to fix immigration laws.
"If you're going to say we can't do it, make sure that Congress and the Administration start doing their job," Goddard said.
Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley, a Republican, echoed Goddard's sentiments.
"During this time, while the law is weaving its way through the court system, it is time for the federal government to deal with immigration reform," Romley said. "The federal government needs to clearly understand it has not just failed Arizona, but it has failed the rest of this nation."
Arizona's U.S. senators, John McCain and Jon Kyl, said they were "deeply disappointed" with Bolton's ruling and disagreed with it. They also said the Obama Administration, instead of filing suit against Arizona, should have focused its efforts on working with Congress to resolve the immigration crisis.
"After this decision, it's even more important to implement our Ten Point Border Security plan to protect Arizonans and our country," McCain and Kyl said.
State Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, assistant Democratic leader of the Arizona House, said Bolton made the right decision.
"Susan Bolton is a very pragmatic, common sense and a pretty conservative judge, not in the sense of fiscally conservative, but conservative in terms of interpreting the law," Sinema said. "So I think this is a very reasonable and expected outcome."
Bolton issued her ruling electronically from the federal courthouse in downtown Phoenix, less than 14 hours before the law was to go into effect at midnight.
Still, security was tight around the federal courthouse in downtown Phoenix where a few protesters showed up.
Federal law enforcement officers fanned out around the courthouse, some using mirrors to look under cars. Bomb-sniffing dogs roamed the area and street fences were in place as buffers between possible protesters and the courthouse.
The bomb squad was called in to check a suspicious backpack propped against the courthouse wall.
After the judge's ruling, U.S. Marshal David Gonzalez said police still were on high alert.
"We are monitoring all kinds of different threats and inappropriate communications to judges, to the U.S. attorney's office," Gonzalez said. "Nothing out of the ordinary, but we'll continue to monitor those and look into any one of those inappropriate communications."
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Protesters climb crane in downtown Phoenix
by Associated Press (July 28th, 2010 @ 9:51pm)
PHOENIX - Four protesters demonstrating against Arizona's new immigration law have been arrested after scaling a 200-foot-high construction crane in downtown Phoenix to unfurl a banner.
A Phoenix Fire Department spokesman says the four people are experienced climbers and climbed the crane near Central Avenue and Jefferson Street about 6 p.m. Wednesday. Phoenix Fire Department personnel were standing by with rescue gear in case the climbers get stuck.
After they unfurled the protest banner, the four descended from the crane and were taken into custody by Phoenix police who say they likely will be charged with trespassing. The names of the protesters were not immediately released.
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Arizona files appeal of SB1070 ruling
by Associated Press (July 29th, 2010 @ 1:08pm)
PHOENIX -- Arizona is appealing a federal judge's order that put most of the state's immigration law on hold.
The state's appeal, filed Thursday, asks the Ninth U.. Circuit Court of Appeals to lift U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton's preliminary injunction so that all of the law can take effect.
Lawyers for Gov. Jan Brewer also asked that the appeal be considered quickly.
Bolton delayed the most contentious provisions of the law on Wednesday. Those included a section requiring officers to check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws if there's a reasonable suspicion the person is in the United States illegally.
Brewer has said she will fight for the law all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.
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SB1070 protesters, police face off in PHX
by Jim Cross/KTAR; Kevin Tripp/KTAR and Bob McClay/KTAR (July 29th, 2010 @ 1:15pm)
PHOENIX -- Police in riot gear confronted protesters to Arizona's immigration law who took to downtown Phoenix streets Thursday and tried to block the entrance to a county jail.
At least 45 people were arrested as the protesters flooded Washington Street between the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and Phoenix City Hall.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio -- who has taken a tough stance on illegal immigration -- said the protesters tried to block the sally port to his Fourth Avenue Jail. he vowed they would not be allowed to disrupt jail operations.
After arresting several people, deputies closed the doors to the vehicle entrance to the jail.
Protesters also blocked light rail tracks in the downtown area, forcing Valley metro to set up a shuttle train between Central Station and 12th Street.
Valley Metro's Howard Steer said passengers would deboard their trains at 12th street "and then we'll get them on a single train, whether they're continuing from 12th to the downtown core or vice versa headed eastbound."
Authorities said some of those arrested were professional demonstrators who wanted to be arrested. One man tried to hop on top of a police cruiser, and police pulled him down.
The protests came hours after a watered down SB1070 took effect. A federal injunction issued Wednesday blocked the most controversial parts of the law.
Among those arrested in the early hours of Thursday's demonstrations, before the street confrontation began, was former state lawmaker Alfredo Gutierrez.
Gutierrez, a one-time state senator turned immigrants rights activist, was busted by federal agents for trespassing when he walked onto the plaza outside the federal courthouse.
Police flooded the downtown area at daylight, anticipating possibly thousands of demonstrators, although a federal injunction blocked the most controversial parts of the law from taking effect.
Fourth Avenue was blocked off north of Washington Street and Third Avenue was lined with patrol units.
Officers were stationed around federal, county and city buildings in the area.
Police expected as many as 3,000 -- both supporters and opponents of SB1070 -- to gather in the area during the day. They include 11 busloads of protesters that left Los Angeles Thursday morning.
Several hundred people, waving U.S. and Mexican flags, gathered outside the sheriff's headquarters.
The Sheriff's office said had been told about a "Day of Non-compliance -- Jailhouse Rock" to disrupt jail operations and bookings.
"Not going to happen," said Arpaio. "These irresponsible individuals who plan to create so much congestion around the jail that we cannot accept prisoners will end up being prisoners themselves. My deputies will arrest them and put them in pink underwear, count on it."
As a security measure, Arpaio put the 1,400 inmates at the Fourth Avenue Jail under 24-hour lockdown and cancelled public visitation. Only legal visits were permitted.
The Sheriff's Office also said that extra security was ordered for Arpaio after federal investigators told him he again is the target of a million-dollar assassination contract by a Mexican drug cartel.
SB1070 took effect at midnight Wednesday although it was stripped of several provisions by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton, ruling on a challenge filed by the U.S. Justice Department. She agreed that some parts of SB1070 unconstitutionally usurped the federal government's authority over immigration enforcement.
About 100 people gathered at the state Capitol in the pre-dawn hours Thursday and marched to the Trinity Cathedral in downtown Phoenix.
Marchers wore shirts that said, "I ain't running any more," and "We will remember in November."
Carlos Velez from Tucson said, although a federal judge blocked the key pieces from taking effect, the issue is far from settled.
If it goes to the U.S. Supreme Court, "I think people better realize that court's going to vote 5-4 for it -- not for the stay, but for supporting 1070," Velez said.
Raymond Rodiguez said he is relieved that the judge put a hold on key parts that anger the Latino community.
"I think a lot of people hopefully will be able to stay around as opposed to picking up and uprooting their children out of schools and moving out of state," Rodriguez said. "It will give them breathing room in being able to see what is the next step."
Both opponents and supporters of the law had planned demonstrations Thursday before Bolton issued the injunction against provisions which included requiring police to determine the immigration status of a person they stopped if there was reasonable suspicion that person was in the United States illegally. The state of Arizona planned to appeal Bolton's decision to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday.
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LA immigration protesters rolling to Ariz.
by Associated Press (July 29th, 2010 @ 1:28pm)
LOS ANGELES - Hundreds of Southern Californians are rolling to Arizona Thursday morning to protest the state's new immigration law, a day after a federal judge put its key measures on hold.
Nearly a dozen chartered carrying immigrant-rights activists left Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles for the ride to Phoenix.
The new law taking effect Thursday was designed to crack down on illegal immigration but critics say it encourages racism against Hispanics.
A federal judge in Phoenix on Wednesday issued a temporary injunction delaying the most contentious provisions, including a requirement that immigrants carry their papers and that police check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws.
Arizona's governor says she'll appeal the ruling.
