ARIZONA LODGED an appeal yesterday seeking to lift a judge’s decision to suspend core provisions of the state’s controversial immigration law SB1070.
Lawyers for Governor Jan Brewer and Arizona asked the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which has a reputation for being liberal, to lift a preliminary injunction blocking parts of the law and to expedite the briefing schedule and its ruling.
Police arrested at least 30 demonstrators who took to the streets of Phoenix yesterday to protest SB1070. When federal district court judge Susan Bolton’s decision was announced on Wednesday, Latinos holding a vigil outside the Arizona state Capitol broke into cheers. Passing motorists hooted horns in a sign of support. Other motorists shouted “Go home!”
Hispanic groups had prepared for implementation of the law by teaching illegal immigrants how to behave when interrogated by police and advising parents to give power of attorney to a friend or relative so children could be cared for in the event they were arrested. Home grocery delivery services thrived as Hispanics waited at home. Thousands of Mexican immigrants fled the state, shuttering their shops, boarding up houses and selling belongings.
In her ruling, Judge Bolton said she believed the federal government will prevail in its lawsuit against SB1070. But her preliminary injunction against the law is merely a first step.
“This fight is far from over. In fact, it is just the beginning,” said Governor Brewer, one of the law’s architects said. “I will battle all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.”
The Supreme Court is likely to accept the case, because it pits states’ rights against federal powers. Officials from nine other states have expressed support for Governor Brewer.
Judge Bolton suspended the four most controversial aspects of the law, which would have required police to check the immigration status of anyone they encountered in the course of their work whom they suspected of being an illegal alien.
The injunction stops the provision making it a state crime for foreigners not to carry identity papers. It blocks police from arresting people they believe to be eligible for deportation without a warrant and suspends the section making it a crime for illegal immigrants to seek or perform work.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, who conducts raids against Hispanics, said Judge Bolton’s decision would not change his activities. William Gheen, president of the Americans for Legal Immigration, told the Washington Post: “The president of the United States and this judge just took the side of illegal immigrants against the American citizenry.”
President Obama has ordered 1,200 national guardsmen to Arizona’s border with Mexico. Arizona senator John McCain has asked for 3,000. “Instead of wasting taxpayer resources filing a lawsuit against Arizona and complaining that the law would be burdensome, the Obama administration should have . . . [supported] the state in its efforts to act where the federal government has failed to take responsibility,” McCain said.
The Arizona law and Judge Bolton’s injunction have ensured that immigration will be a major issue in the November mid-term elections. Polls show that 55 per cent of Americans support SB1070, and Democrats fear they will lose votes by appearing to be soft on illegal immigration. But analysts say President Obama stands to gain the Hispanic vote in the 2012 presidential election, which will see a higher turnout.
The New York Times called SB1070 “a spiteful crusade to force a mass exodus of illegal immigrants”.
The Border Patrol collected the bodies of 422 Mexicans who perished crossing the desert into Arizona last year. Right-wing militiamen who have taken it upon themselves to patrol the border call immigrants “narco-terrorists”. The leader of one heavily armed militia, a former marine called Jason Ready, was linked by the Times to the neo-Nazi National Socialist movement, which believes only non-Jewish, white heterosexuals should be US citizens.