Portland observer., July 11, 2012, Page 7, Image 7

•JPtartlauh (Observer
July II. 2012
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Offensive, Unjust and Un-American
Arizona’s
immigration
law in a bind
R aul A . R eyes
A r iz o n a G o v .
Jan B rew er called a
new s conference in
P hoenix after the
S uprem e C ourt re­
leased its ruling on
her state's "papers,
please" im m igration law . She an­
nounced that the key com ponents
o f her law "unanim ously have been
vindicated by the h ighest court in
the land." She beam ed as she called
the decision "a victory for the rule o f
law."
W atching her on live T V , I w as a
bit confused. T he Suprem e C ourt
struck dow n nearly all o f A rizona's
law , on a 5-3 vote. A side from not
being "unanim ous," I w ouldn't call
that being "vindicated," let alone
scoring a "victory." Let's unpack
the S uprem e C ourt ruling and see
w hat it really m eans — and w hy it
m atters.
T he Suprem e C ourt review ed four
parts o f the law know n as SB 1070.
O ne section m ade it a crim e for u n ­
docu m en ted people to be in the
state. A second section m ade it a
crim e for undocum ented people to
w ork o r look for w ork. A third sec­
tion allo w ed w arrantless searches
o f u n d o cu m en ted people by the
by
police. A nd a fourth required that
the police check the im m igration
sta tu s o f a n y o n e th e y s to p p e d
w hom they suspected o f being u n ­
docum ented.
T he court tossed out three sec­
tions o f SB 1070 as unconstitutional,
deciding that that A rizona had o v er­
stepped its authority by going b e ­
y o n d f e d e r a l la w . U n d e r th e
C onstitution's suprem acy clause the
court noted that only the federal
governm ent can set im m igration
policy. The reasoning behind this is
sim ple. W hat w ould happen if each
state decided to pass its ow n im m i­
gration law s? W e w ould end up
with at least 50 different im m igration
policies, m aybe m ore if the D istrict
o f C olum bia, Puerto R ico, and other
n o n -sta te ju ris d ic tio n s .fo llo w e d
suit.
T he court didn't strike dow n the
m ost controversial part o f SB 1070
— the requirem ent that the police
check people's papers if officers
su sp ect they are un d o cu m en ted .
Y et the court noted that if A rizona
didn't apply this part o f its im m ig ra­
tio n la w w ith g r e a t c a r e , th e
Suprem es are likely to conduct a
future review o f this section.
So m uch for that "victory" B rew er
claim ed. A t best, the court took a
"w ait and see" ap p ro ach on one out
o f the law 's four sections.
A rizona's im m igration law puts
state and local police in a tough
spot. In a state w here roughly one in
three people is L atino, how can o f­
ficers decide w ho is undocum ented
and w ho is not? If they m ake a
ju d g m en t based on w hether people
are speaking Spanish o r have an
accent, the police can w ind up being
sued for civil rights violations.
B ut an o th er part o f A rizona's
controversial law allow s citizens to
sue their local law en fo rcem en t o f­
ficers if they believe they are not
fully enforcing SB 1070. So A rizona
police and sheriffs can be sued if
they racially profile people. A nd
they can be sued if they don't. H ow
crazy is that?
R ealistically, A rizona's im m igra­
tion law is sure to w ind up before the
S uprem e C ourt again. L atino a d v o ­
cacy groups and the A m erican C ivil
L iberties U nion have plans to sue
based on civil rights violations. A fter
all, if you live in A rizona and your
nam e is Sm ith, the police are u n ­
likely to ask you fo r im m igration
papers if they pull you o v er for
speeding. H o w ev er, if y o u r last
nam e is Gonzalez, you could be asked
to prove y o u r citizenship o r p erm a­
nent residency status. T hat's a vio­
lation o f the C onstitution's equal
protection clause, w hich says all
people m ust be treated equally un­
der the law.
A m ericans should be concerned
about this im m igration law 's fate
because A rizona has inspired c o p y ­
cat law s across the country, from
U tah to G eorgia. M itt R om ney, who
advocated the bizarre concept o f
self-deportation as an im m igration
policy during the G O P prim aries,
has called SB 1070 "a m odel fo r the
natio n ."
L ike A rizona G ov. Jan Brew er,
the R epublican Party's all-but-offi-
cial presidential nom inee should take
an o th er look at the S uprem e C ourt's
ruling. N ot only is SB 1070 m ostly
illegal, it is offensive, unjust, and
truly un-A m erican.
R a u l A. R eyes is an a tto rn ey a n d
colum nist in N ew York City.
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