Arizona SB 1070

"[24] The new text also states that police may only investigate immigration status incident to a "lawful stop, detention, or arrest", lowers the original fine from a minimum of $500 to a maximum of $5000,[22] and changes incarceration limits for first-time offenders from 6 months to 20 days.

[28] There was also anxiety that the Mexican Drug War, which had caused thousands of deaths, would spill over into the U.S.[28] Moreover, by late in the decade 2000, Phoenix was averaging one kidnapping per day, earning it the reputation as America's worst city in that regard.

[12] Impetus for SB 1070 was attributed to demographics shifting towards a larger Hispanic population, increased drugs and human smuggling related violence in Mexico and Arizona, and a struggling state economy and economic anxiety during the late-2000s recession.

[45] As governor, she had made another push for Arizona Proposition 100 (2010), a one percent increase in the state sales tax to prevent cuts in education, health and human services, and public safety, despite opposition from within her own party.

[43][45] These political moves, along with a tough upcoming Republican Party primary in the 2010 Arizona gubernatorial election with other conservative opponents supporting the bill, were considered major factors in her decision.

[23] Against concerns that the measure would promote racial profiling, Brewer stated that no such behavior would be tolerated: "We must enforce the law evenly, and without regard to skin color, accent or social status.

[41] Also faced with a primary battle against the more conservative J. D. Hayworth, who had made legislation against unlawful immigration a central theme of his candidacy, McCain supported SB 1070 only hours before its passage in the State Senate.

The bill was criticized by President Barack Obama who called it "misguided" and said it would "undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and our communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe.

[2][41][66][67] Governor Brewer and President Obama met at the White House in early June 2010 to discuss immigration and border security issues in the wake of SB 1070; the meeting was termed pleasant, but brought about little change in the participants' stances.

[2][30]) U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the federal government was considering several options, including a court challenge based on the law leading to possible civil rights violations.

[80] Some analysts have stated that Republican support for the law gives short-term political benefits by energizing their base and independents, but longer term carries the potential of alienating the growing Hispanic population from the party.

[84][85] U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton included the dispute over SB 1070 in an August 2010 report to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as an example to other countries of how fractious issues can be resolved under the rule of law.

"[89][90] In response to these comments, Chris Hawley of USA Today said that "Mexico has a law that is no different from Arizona's", referring to legislation which gives local police forces the power to check documents of people suspected of being in the country unlawful.

[92] The governors of the six Mexican states belonging to the conference vowed to boycott it in protest of the law, saying SB 1070 is "based on ethnic and cultural prejudice contrary to fundamental rights," and Brewer said in response that she was canceling the gathering.

[23][95] The Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police criticized the legislation, calling the provisions of the bill "problematic" and expressing that it will negatively affect the ability of law enforcement agencies across the state to fulfill their many responsibilities in a timely manner.

[105] United Methodist Church Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño of Arizona's Desert Southwest Conference opposed it as "unwise, short sighted and mean spirited"[106] and led a mission of prominent religious figures to Washington to lobby for comprehensive immigration reform.

India Williams argues that the Border Patrol is very likely to stop anyone if a suspect resembles "Mexican appearance" and states that such generalization of unchangeable physical features threatens the culture and the heritage of the ethnic group.

[123] Congressman Jared Polis of Colorado and Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn also said the law's requirement to carry papers all the time was reminiscent of the anti-Jewish legislation in prewar Nazi Germany and feared that Arizona was headed towards becoming a police state.

[68][124] Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles said, "I can't imagine Arizonans now reverting to German Nazi and Russian Communist techniques whereby people are required to turn one another in to the authorities on any suspicion of documentation.

Congressman from Illinois Luis Gutiérrez was part of a 35-person group arrested in front of the White House in a planned act of civil disobedience that was also urging President Obama to push for comprehensive immigration reform.

"[137] A concert of May 16 in Mexico City's Zócalo, called Prepa Si Youth For Dignity: We Are All Arizona, drew some 85,000 people to hear Molotov, Jaguares, and Maldita Vecindad headline a seven-hour show in protest against the law.

[15] Arizona did have a past case of a large-scale boycott during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when it lost many conventions and several hundred million dollars in revenues after Governor Evan Mecham's cancellation of a Martin Luther King Jr. Day state holiday and a subsequent failed initial referendum to restore it.

[154] The Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce opposed both the law and the idea of boycotting, saying the latter would only hurt small businesses and the state's economy, which was already badly damaged by the collapse of real estate prices and the late-2000s recession.

"[160][161] Called the Sound Strike, artists signing on with the effort included Kanye West, Cypress Hill, Massive Attack, Conor Oberst, Sonic Youth, Joe Satriani, Rise Against, Tenacious D, The Coup, Gogol Bordello, and Los Tigres del Norte.

[166] De la Rocha said Sound Strike would continue despite the injunction against large parts of SB 1070 in order to battle Arizona's "racist and fear mongering state government" and until the Obama administration stopped participating in federal actions such as the 287(g) program, Secure Communities, and other U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement policies.

[174] Visitors at Grand Canyon National Park were up from the year before, several well-known Arizona-based companies that were targeted said they had seen no effect from it, and the actions by the San Francisco and Los Angeles city governments had resulted in few practical consequences.

[65] Some immigration experts said the law might make workers with H-1B visas vulnerable to being caught in public without their hard-to-replace paperwork, which they are ordinarily reluctant to carry with them on a daily basis, and that as a consequence universities and technology companies in the state might find it harder to recruit students and employees.

[27] This was due to their having established, powerful Hispanic communities, deep cultural ties to Mexico, past experience with bruising political battles over the issue (such as with California Proposition 187 in the 1990s), and the perception among their populations that illegal immigration was less severe a problem.

[220] On May 17, a joint class action lawsuit, Friendly House et al. v. Whiting, was filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of ten individuals and fourteen labor, religious, and civil rights organizations.

[235][237][238] On July 28, 2010, Bolton issued a ruling on the Justice Department suit, United States of America v. Arizona, granting a preliminary injunction that blocked the most key and controversial portions of SB 1070 from going into effect.

Arizona governor Jan Brewer met with President Barack Obama in June 2010 in the wake of SB 1070, to discuss immigration and border security issues. [ 1 ]
State senator Russell Pearce , sponsor of the bill
State representative Kyrsten Sinema , opponent of the bill, attending a protest at the Arizona State Capitol on the day of the bill's signing
A sign at a rally against the law in Washington, D.C.
A protest against SB 1070 by a coalition of community organizations in Minneapolis
Protesters being arrested as part of the May 1, 2010, civil disobedience display in front of the White House
Arizona's convention business, such as here at the Phoenix Convention Center , was a prime target of boycott efforts.
Calls to boycott the 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game were ineffective.
Recording of oral arguments in the appeal to the Ninth Circuit