Court dilutes Arizona migrant law
Key parts of a controversial new immigration law in the US state of Arizona have been blocked by the federal court.
The law will still take effect as scheduled on Thursday, but parts of the legislation have been suspended, including a provision that requires police officers to determine the immigration status of people they detain.
US district judge Susan Bolton also blocked a provision that requires immigrants to carry identification papers at all times.
“There is a substantial likelihood that officers will wrongfully arrest legal resident aliens under the new [law],” Bolton ruled on Wednesday.
“By enforcing this statute, Arizona would impose a ‘distinct, unusual and extraordinary’ burden on legal resident aliens.”
‘They haven’t done their job’
The decision was a ruling on a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the US justice department. Bolton has said that the law was “awkward” in its wording, and that she doubted it could be properly enforced.
Her ruling held that only the federal government, not state governments, can set US immigration policy.
Jan Brewer, the Arizona governor, said the state will probably appeal the ruling. She said the state law was made necessary by the federal government’s inaction.
“It’s a temporary bump in the road, we will move forward, and I’m sure that after consultation with our counsel we will appeal,” Brewer said. “The bottom line is that we’ve known all along that it is the responsibility of the feds, and they haven’t done their job, so we were going to help them do that.”
The Obama administration has pushed the US congress to pursue an immigration reform bill, but that legislation has stalled, largely because of near-uniform Republican opposition.
“We would love for the congressional delegation from Arizona, and the senators there, to support comprehensive immigration reform,” said Jennifer Kottler, a policy director at Sojourners, a Christian advocacy group. “That would address so many of the issues there.”
Popular support
The law was passed in April by Arizona’s Republican-controlled legislature, which said was necessary step to stop illegal immigration. Opinion polls have showed that nearly 60 per cent of the US population supports the law.
It has been criticised by human rights groups, the Catholic Church and the Mexican government, and byBarack Obama, the US president, who called it “misguided”.
Thousands of activists have planned a demonstration against the law in Arizona on Thursday. That rally is still expected to take place, despite the court’s verdict.
“Even if it issues a temporary injunction… we’re still going ahead with our protests, because 21 other states want to follow Arizona’s footsteps with racist laws” of their own, Paulina Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for the group organising the protest, said.
One group, the National Day Laborer Organising Network, plans to fill nearly a dozen buses with activists in Los Angeles. The buses will drive from there to Phoenix, the capital of Arizona.
Organisers say none of the people on the buses will carry identification papers.
“Thursday will be our national civil disobedience day, when we’ll stand up to a racist, discriminatory and hypocritical measure,” Pablo Alvarado, the director of the network, said.
Another group plans to block access to federal government offices in Phoenix.
One-third of the roughly 6.6 million people living in Arizona are foreign-born, and more than five percent of the population is estimated to be illegal immigrants.