Arizona’s racist law blocked

A FEDERAL judge issued a temporary injunction blocking implementation of the most obnoxious parts of Arizona's anti-immigrant bill known as SB 1070, just hours before the law went into effect at 12:01 a.m. on July 29.

Immigrant rights activists celebrated federal district judge Susan Bolton's action--even as they organized for protest.

Throughout the last week in the lead-up to SB 1070 going into effect, immigrant rights advocates organized demonstrations to highlight the civil rights violations and racism at the heart of the anti-immigrant law. They said they planned to proceed with protests and civil disobedience actions set for July 29, which has been called a national day of action.

The provisions of the law blocked by Bolton's injunction include:

The obligation for police officers to determine the immigration status of everyone they stop, if officers have a "reasonable suspicion" that they might be in the country unlawfully;

Mandatory detention of people arrested even for minor offenses that would normally result in nothing more than a ticket, if they can't prove that they are in the U.S. legally;

Criminal penalties for non-citizens who fail to register with the Department of Homeland Security or fail to carry registration papers;

The warrantless arrest of individuals if state or local police believe they have committed a public offense that would make them eligible for "removal" from the U.S.; and

Criminal penalties for alleged undocumented immigrants seeking work.

Though seven different legal challenges have been filed against SB 1070, the judge's action followed from a lawsuit brought by the Obama administration's Justice Department.

Bolton ruled that Arizona's SB 1070 improperly preempts the federal government's jurisdiction over immigration policy. In particular, the law's provisions requiring police to check the immigration status of all arrestees would result in a huge increase of queries to federal officials in charge of the national immigration database, which would "impermissibly burden federal resources and redirect federal agencies away from the priorities they have established," according to Bolton's judgment.

Bolton's ruling also states that "mandatory immigration verification upon arrest requirement...is likely to burden legally present aliens, in contravention of the Supreme Court's directive...that aliens not be subject to 'the possibility of inquisitorial practices and police surveillance.'"

The injunction did not overturn a provision in SB 1070 making it a misdemeanor to "transport...conceal, harbor or shield" an undocumented immigrant, nor did it block a section giving Arizona residents the right to sue a state agency if it adopts a policy that in any way fails to enforce federal immigration guidelines to the fullest extent of the law.

ARIZONA GOV. Jan Brewer, who enthusiastically signed SB 1070 into law in April, downplayed the importance of Bolton's action as "a temporary bump in the road.

Likewise, state Sen. Russell Pearce, the chief sponsor of SB 1070, stressed that Bolton did not strike down the provision of the law calling on state agencies to enforce federal immigration law to the fullest extent possible. "As of Thursday, the handcuffs come off of law enforcement," Pearce said. "This says clearly that we can enforce federal law and we cannot be impeded." Pearce predicted that the lawsuits would eventually be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joseph Arpaio, notorious for his inhumane treatment of undocumented immigrants who end up in his jail, vowed to forge ahead with his plan to send 200 deputies into downtown Phoenix to hunt for traffic violators and other "suspects" in order to test out the new statute.

"We don't wait," Arpaio told reporters. "We just do it. If there's a new law out, we're going to enforce it." Arpaio also said he wouldn't "put up with any civil disobedience" actions being planned by protesters, who had announced plans to block the county jail. "They want to block my jail?" he sneered. "We got plenty of room for them, too."

Meanwhile, opponents of SB 1070 rejoiced at the injunction and welcomed the opportunity to mount a comprehensive legal challenge to the law.

"Other states following in Arizona's misguided footsteps should consider themselves forewarned: attempts to trample on the constitutional rights of communities of color in this country must not be permitted," said Linton Joaquin, general counsel for the National Immigration Law Center. "We look forward to showing, through our lawsuit, that this pernicious law should be taken off Arizona's books permanently."

But while the injunction on parts of SB 1070 is an important victory, the harsh anti-immigrant climate symbolized by this law has already taken a toll. There are many stories of people fleeing the state in advance of the law actually going into effect.

Rosalinda Macias, a pastor at a church in downtown Phoenix, explained that four families who used to attend her church have moved to other states. "They don't want Hispanic people here," Macias, a naturalized U.S. citizen, told the Houston Chronicle. "It doesn't matter what our status is."

As Carlos Garcia, a member of the Puente Movement, said:

In Maricopa County, we've been living under 1070 conditions with Sheriff Arpaio for years. Many are celebrating today because some sections are being blocked. While they can breathe a sigh of relief for the minimal injunction, our breath catches with the added boots on our communities' necks. Deciding to use an open hand instead of a closed fist makes this no less of a blow to the people of Arizona.

ACTIVISTS ACROSS the U.S. organized protests in solidarity with Arizona's immigrant community. In the week leading up to the July 29 implementation date, there were demonstrations on the streets and at offices of congressional representatives.

In San Francisco, more than 100 protesters demonstrated July 28 to call for an end to SB 1070 and for passage of the DREAM Act, which would create a path to legalization for young immigrants who attend college or enlist in the military.

In Phoenix, four protesters scaled a 200-foot-high construction crane in the middle of the city and unfurled a banner that read, "Stop hate." After they descended, they were arrested and taken into custody by police.

On July 29, there will be series of protests in Arizona and outside it. In the state itself, activists are calling for non-compliance with the new law and asking people not to carry IDs, go to work or buy anything for the day.

Especially significant are pledges by various groups and institutions to refuse to abide by the new law. The board of the Tucson Unified School District, for example, voted 5-0 on July 28 to not allow immigration laws to be enforced on its campuses.

In California, demonstrations are planned for Oakland, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Fruitvale and Santa Cruz. There will also be protests in New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Cincinnati, Chicago, Milwaukee, Houston, Portland, Ore., Charlotte, N.C., Toledo, Ohio, Memphis and many other cities.

The protests have two general themes. One is opposition to SB 1070. The other is support for comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level, which would allow the estimated 12 million undocumented workers in the U.S. to gain citizenship.

Many demonstrations are also calling for an end to section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows local and state law enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws. Another target of protesters is the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency's Secure Communities program to identify undocumented workers using fingerprint scans and arrest records.

These protests are essential to win justice for immigrants--documented and undocumented--who have been targeted, in Arizona and across the country, by the climate of racist scapegoating whipped up by politicians.

In the words of Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, the movement should not rest until SB 1070 is fully repealed or found unconstitutional. "The sections that go into effect tomorrow are intolerable insults to our humanity and dangerous precedents for law enforcement," said Alvarado. "We will not stop until real justice comes to Arizona."