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The Legal Challenges and Economic Realities of Arizona's SB 1070: A Resource Page

Lawsuits  |  Economics  |  Crime  |  Problematic Training  |  Faith  |  State Legislation  |  A History  |  Blog Posts

The Law

What is SB 1070 and how does it work? How will SB 1070 impact your state? This guide provides key answers to basic questions about Arizona’s law—from the substance of the law and myths surrounding it to the legal and fiscal implications. As other states contemplate similar legislation, knowing the answers to basic questions about Arizona’s law will prove to be critically important in furthering the discussion.

The Legal Challenges 

Arizona’s harsh immigration enforcement law, "Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act" (SB 1070, amended by HB 2162) inter alia, requires state and local law enforcement agencies to check the immigration status of individuals it encounters and makes it a state crime to be without proper immigration documentation. Soon after Arizona’s governor signed the bill, challenges to the law were filed.

  • Read about the suits challenging the Arizona law.
  • Read about challenges to other state and local laws.

The Economic Realities ▲

How much will SB 1070 cost the state of Arizona? Answer: In the hundreds of millions of dollars. Given the vital role that immigrants and Latinos play in Arizona's economy, and considering Arizona's current budget deficit of more than $4.5 billion dollars, enacting SB 1070 could be a perilous move. Arizonans should take into consideration not only the potential costs of implementation and defending the state against lawsuits, but also the significant numbers of immigrants and Latinos who will be persuaded to leave the state because of this new law—and the tax dollars, businesses, and purchasing power they will take with them.

The Falling Crime Rates ▲

Supporters of Arizona’s harsh new immigration law claim that it is, in part, a crime-fighting measure.  However, people like Republican State Senator Russell Pearce of Mesa, the bill’s author, overlook two salient points: crime rates have already been falling in Arizona for years despite the presence of unauthorized immigrants, and a century’s worth of research has demonstrated that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes or be behind bars than the native-born.

Problematic Police Training▲

Local law enforcement is struggling to interpret SB 1070 and provide training to officers. In a new report, journalist Jeffrey Kaye reveals that "instead of 'statewide and uniform practices' as directed by the governor, Arizona police agencies have developed a patchwork of guidelines based on varying interpretations of the law." Kaye's reporting includes interviews with police officials, who cite concerns with implementing the new law, and a review of training materials that suggest the implementation of SB 1070 will differ from one jurisdiction to another, and even within police agencies, and "will be burdensome, costly, and distort priorities."

Arizona's Anti-Immigration Law is also Anti-Faith ▲

Arizona’s new law not only begets practical questions of how local law enforcement officials who lack proper training can enforce complex federal immigration laws, but the law also brings up a moral question of how this new law will implicate people carrying out ministries of mercy because they believe they are called to a higher law- God’s law. People of faith are often at the front lines of helping those in need and do so without checking the legal status of those they serve. The Bible, and other religious texts, all have some admonition to its followers to care for and welcome the stranger among them. The Arizona law makes some of this activity illegal by constituting “smuggling of human beings” as the “transportation by a person or an entity that knows or has reason to know that the person is not lawfully in this state.” The language of the Arizona bill is so broad that it gives local law enforcement officials broad discretion to enforce immigration laws against individuals and entities, deterring these well-meaning individuals and organizations from engaging in the very acts that they feel compelled to carry out because of Christian love or duty.

Read about how Arizona's Anti-Immigration Law is also Anti-Faith.

Is Arizona's Law Coming to a State Near You? ▲

Arizona’s controversial new immigration law is the latest in a long line of efforts to regulate immigration at the state level. While the Grand Canyon State’s foray into immigration law is one of the most extreme and punitive, other states have also attempted to enforce federal law through state-specific measures and sanctions. Oklahoma and Georgia have recently passed measures, with mixed constitutional results, aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration through state enforcement. Not all state legislation relating to immigration is punitive, but the leap into federal enforcement represents a disturbing trend fueled by the lack of comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level. 

  • Margo Cowan, an attorney at the Pima County Public Defender's Office, discusses the history of SB 1070 and the 15 years of events that lead up to the creation of the new law.

    Listen to the Margo Cowan:

  • Lucas Guttentag, Director of the Immigrants' Rights Project at the ACLU, discusses current litigation against current immigration laws and what that litigation is actually seeking to do. He also gives an in-depth view into SB 1070 and the ways in which it could be enforced.

    Listen to the Lucas Guttentag:

  • Ann Morse, Program Director of the National Conference of State Legislators, gives an overview of  NCSL by discussing their involvement in immigration reform, reports on bills and laws in the states and what you can do to inform the debate.

    Listen to the Ann Morse:

  • Suman Raghunathan, Immigration Policy Specialist of the Progressive States Network, discusses how organizations, progressive state legislatures and advocates can expand and shift the debate on immigration and discusses solutions that are common sense, pragmatic, progressive and that expand opportunity for all residents.

    Listen to the Suman Raghunathan:

  • Mo Goldman, an ALIA member, discusses how private immigration attorneys can work to combat anti-immigration of legislature and the things an immigration attorney can do to impact media and other organizations in their local area.

    Listen to the Mo Goldman:

A History ▲

Arizona’s immigration law (SB 1070) has garnered the lion’s share of media attention in recent weeks—from boycotts to demonstrations and legal challenges. While the spotlight has been on Arizona, however, copycat legislation has been brewing in other states. What supporters of similar state “attrition through enforcement” immigration legislation might not realize, however, is that we’ve been here more than once before. In IPC's latest Perspectives on Immigration, journalist and author Jeffrey Kaye finds that present-day patterns of economic opportunity, ensuing migration, and the reactions to the influx of newcomers are recycled versions of old stories. Kaye juxtaposes the heated rhetoric surrounding Hazleton’s 2006 immigration laws with those following Hazleton’s immigrant influx in the late 1800s. While migrant workers’ countries of origins might differ, the anti-immigrant arguments are just the same.

Read Re-Living Our Immigrant Past: From Hazleton to Arizona and Back Again

Related Blog Posts  ▲

Published On: Tue, May 11, 2010 | Download File

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