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The Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act (introduced as Arizona Senate Bill 1070 and commonly referred to as Arizona SB 1070) is a 2010 legislative
Act in the U.S. state of
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
that was the broadest and strictest anti-
illegal immigration law in the United States when passed.
It has received international attention and has spurred considerable controversy.
U.S. federal law requires immigrants older than 18 to possess any certificate of alien registration issued to him or her at all times; violation of this requirement is a federal misdemeanor crime. The Arizona act made it also a state misdemeanor for an alien to be in Arizona without carrying the required documents, and required that state law enforcement officers attempt to determine an individual's immigration status during a "lawful stop, detention or arrest" when there is reasonable suspicion that the individual is an undocumented immigrant.[Police may "transport" said alien to a federal facility "in this state or any other point" where such a facility exists. Arizona HB 2162, §3.] The law barred state or local officials or agencies from restricting enforcement of federal immigration laws, and imposed penalties on those sheltering, hiring and transporting unregistered aliens. The paragraph on intent in the legislation says it embodies an "attrition through enforcement" doctrine.[Arizona SB 1070, §1.]
Critics of the legislation say it encourages racial profiling
Racial profiling or ethnic profiling is the act of suspecting, targeting or discriminating against a person on the basis of their ethnicity, religion or nationality, rather than on individual suspicion or available evidence. Racial profiling involv ...
, while supporters say the law prohibits the use of race as the sole basis for investigating immigration status. The law was amended by Arizona House Bill 2162 within a week of its signing, with the goal of addressing some of these concerns. There have been protests in opposition to the law in over 70 U.S. cities, including boycotts and calls for boycotts of Arizona.
The Act was signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer
Janice Kay Brewer (''née'' Drinkwine, formerly Warren; born September 26, 1944) is an American politician and author who was the 22nd governor of Arizona from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Brewer is the fourth woman (and was t ...
on April 23, 2010. It was scheduled to go into effect on July 29, 2010, ninety days after the end of the legislative session. Legal challenges over its constitutionality
Constitutionality is said to be the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution; "Webster On Line" the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or set forth in the applicable constitution. When l ...
and compliance with civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...
law were filed, including one by the United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...
, that also asked for an injunction against enforcement of the law. The day before the law was to take effect, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that blocked the law's most controversial provisions. In June 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
ruled on the case ''Arizona v. United States
''Arizona v. United States'', 567 U.S. 387 (2012), was a Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court case involving Arizona's Arizona SB 1070, SB 1070, a state law intended to increase the powers of local law enforcement that w ...
'', upholding the provision requiring immigration status checks during law enforcement stops but striking down three other provisions as violations of the Supremacy Clause
The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution of the United States ( Article VI, Clause 2) establishes that the Constitution, federal laws made pursuant to it, and treaties made under its authority, constitute the "supreme Law of the Land", and thu ...
of the United States Constitution.
Provisions
U.S. federal law requires aliens 14 years old or older who are in the country for longer than 30 days to register with the U.S. government and have registration documents in their possession at all times. The Act makes it a state misdemeanor for an undocumented person to be in Arizona without carrying the required documents[Arizona SB 1070, §3.] and obligates police to make an attempt, when practicable during a "lawful stop, detention or arrest", to determine a person's immigration status if there is reasonable suspicion that the person is an undocumented person.[Arizona SB 1070, §2.] Any person arrested cannot be released without confirmation of the person's legal immigration status by the federal government pursuant to § 1373(c) of Title 8 of the United States Code
Title 8 of the United States Code codifies statutes relating to aliens and nationality in the United States Code.
Chapters 1-11
* : General Provisions (repealed or omitted)
* : Elective Franchise (transferred)
* : Civil Rights (transferred/repe ...
. A first offense carries a fine of up to $100, plus court costs, and up to 20 days in jail; subsequent offenses can result in up to 30 days in jail[Arizona HB 2162, §4.] (SB 1070 required a ''minimum'' fine of $500 for a first violation, and for a second violation a minimum $1,000 fine and a maximum jail sentence of 6 months).[Arizona SB 1070, §5.] A person is "presumed to not be an immigrant who is unlawfully present in the United States" if he or she presents any of the following four forms of identification: a valid Arizona driver license
A driver's license is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, cars, trucks, or buses—on a public r ...
; a valid Arizona nonoperating identification license; a valid tribal enrollment card or other tribal identification; or any valid federal, state, or local government-issued identification, if the issuer requires proof of legal presence in the United States as a condition of issuance.[
The Act prohibits state, county, and local officials from limiting or restricting "the enforcement of federal immigration laws to less than the full extent permitted by federal law" and provides that any legal Arizona resident can sue the agencies or officials in question to compel such full enforcement.] If the person who brings suit prevails, that person may be entitled to reimbursement of court costs and reasonable attorney fees.[
The Act makes it a crime for anyone, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, to hire or to be hired from a vehicle which "blocks or impedes the normal movement of traffic." Vehicles used in such manner are subject to mandatory immobilization or impoundment. For a person in violation of a criminal law, it is an offense to transport an undocumented immigrant "in furtherance" of the undocumented immigrant's unauthorized presence in the U.S., to "conceal, harbor or shield" an undocumented immigrant, or to encourage or induce an undocumented immigrant to immigrate to the state, if the person "knows or recklessly disregards the fact" that the alien is in the U.S. without authorization or that immigration would be unlawful.][ Violation is a class 1 misdemeanor if fewer than ten undocumented immigrant are involved, and a class 6 felony if ten or more are involved. The offender is subject to a fine of at least $1,000 for each undocumented immigrant involved. The transportation provision includes exceptions for child protective services workers, ambulance attendants and emergency medical technicians.][
]
Arizona HB 2162
On April 30, 2010, the Arizona legislature passed and Governor Brewer signed, House Bill 2162, which modified the Act that had been signed a week earlier, adding text stating that "prosecutors would not investigate complaints based on race, color or national origin." 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 $100, and changes incarceration limits for first-time offenders from 6 months to 20 days.
Background and passage
Arizona was the first state to enact such far-reaching legislation. Prior law in Arizona, like most other states, did not require law enforcement personnel to ask the immigration status of people they encountered. Many police departments discourage such inquiries to avoid deterring immigrants from reporting crimes and cooperating in other investigations.
Arizona had an estimated 460,000 undocumented people in April 2010, a fivefold increase since 1990. As the state with the most unlawful crossings of the Mexico–United States border
The Mexico–United States border ( es, frontera Estados Unidos–México) is an international border separating Mexico and the United States, extending from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border trave ...
, its remote and dangerous deserts are the unlawful entry point for thousands of undocumented Mexicans and Central Americans. By the late 1990s, the Tucson Border Patrol Sector had the highest number of arrests by the United States Border Patrol.
Whether undocumented people commit a disproportionate number of crimes is uncertain, with different authorities and academics claiming that the rate for this group was the same, greater, or less than that of the overall population.[ The decreased rate in property crimes was noted in a correction on June 27, 2010.] There was also anxiety that the Mexican Drug War, which had caused thousands of deaths, would spill over into the U.S. 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.
Arizona has a history of restricting undocumented immigration. In 2007, legislation imposed heavy sanctions on employers hiring undocumented people. Measures similar to SB 1070 had been passed by the legislature in 2006 and 2008, only to be vetoed by Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano
Janet Ann Napolitano (; born November 29, 1957) is an American politician, lawyer, and university administrator who served as the 21st governor of Arizona from 2003 to 2009 and third United States secretary of homeland security from 2009 to 20 ...
. She was subsequently appointed as Secretary of Homeland Security
The United States secretary of homeland security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the federal department tasked with ensuring public safety in the United States. The secretary is a member of the Cabinet of the U ...
in the Obama administration and was replaced by Republican Secretary of State of Arizona
The secretary of state of Arizona is an elected position in the U.S. state of Arizona. Since Arizona does not have a lieutenant governor, the secretary stands first in the line of succession to the governorship. The secretary also serves as acti ...
Jan Brewer. There is a similar history of referendums, such as the Arizona Proposition 200 (2004) that sought to restrict undocumented peoples' use of social services. The 'attrition through enforcement' doctrine had been encouraged by think tanks such as the Center for Immigration Studies
The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) is an anti-immigration think tank and a SPLC designated hate group. It favors far lower immigration numbers, and produces analyses to further those views. The CIS was founded by historian Otis L. Grah ...
for several years.
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. State residents were frustrated by the lack of federal progress on immigration, which they viewed as even more disappointing given that Napolitano had joined the Obama administration.
The major sponsor and legislative force behind the bill was State Senator Russell Pearce, who had long been one of Arizona's most vocal opponents of undocumented people and who had successfully pushed several prior pieces of tough legislation against those he termed "invaders on the American sovereignty". Much of the bill was drafted by Kris Kobach, a professor at the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law
The University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law is a public law school located on the main campus of the University of Missouri-Kansas City in Kansas City, Missouri, near the Country Club Plaza.
It was founded in 1895 as the Kansas Cit ...
and a figure long associated with the Federation for American Immigration Reform
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a non profit, anti-immigration organization in the United States. The group publishes position papers, organizes events, and runs campaigns in order to advocate for changes in U.S. immig ...
who had drafted immigration bills for many other states. Pearce and Kobach had worked together on prior immigration legislation, and Pearce contacted Kobach when he was ready to pursue stronger state enforcement of federal immigration laws. A December 2009 meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a nonprofit organization of conservative state legislators and private sector representatives who draft and share model legislation for distribution among state governments in the United State ...
(ALEC) in Washington, D.C., produced model legislation that embodied the Pearce initiative.
One explanation for the impetus behind the bill was that ALEC is largely funded by corporate contributions, including some from the private prison industry such as the Corrections Corporation of America
CoreCivic, formerly the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), is a company that owns and manages private prisons and detention centers and operates others on a concession basis. Co-founded in 1983 in Nashville, Tennessee by Thomas W. Beasle ...
, Management and Training Corporation
Management & Training Corporation or MTC is a contractor that manages private prisons and United States Job Corps centers, based in Centerville, Utah. MTC's core businesses are corrections, education and training, MTC medical, and economic & soci ...
, and GEO Group
The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO) is a publicly traded C corporation that invests in private prisons and mental health facilities in North America, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, the company's ...
. These companies would benefit from a large increase in the number of undocumented people sent to jail. Pearce later denied that he created the bill for any reason other than to stop undocumented immigration. He denied that he submitted the idea to ALEC for any reason other than helping it pass in Arizona and, potentially, in other states.
The bill was introduced in the Arizona legislature in January 2010 and gained 36 cosponsors. The Arizona State Senate
The Arizona State Senate is part of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature of the US state of Arizona. The Senate consists of 30 members each representing an average of 219,859 constituents (2009 figures). Members serve two-year terms wi ...
approved an early version of the bill in February 2010. Saying, "Enough is enough," Pearce stated figuratively that this new bill would remove handcuffs from law enforcement and place them on violent offenders.
On March 27, 2010, 58-year-old Robert Krentz and his dog were shot and killed while Krentz was doing fence work on his large ranch roughly from the Mexican border
Mexico shares international borders with three nations:
*To the north the United States–Mexico border, which extends for a length of through the states of Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas.
*To the southe ...
. This incident gave a tangible public face to fears about immigration-related crime. Arizona police were unable to name a murder suspect but traced a set of footprints from the crime scene south towards the border. The resulting speculation that the killer was an undocumented person increased public support for SB 1070. There was talk of naming the law after Krentz. Some state legislators (both for and against the law) believed, however, that the impact of the Krentz killing has been overstated as a factor in the law's passage.
The bill, with several amendments, passed the Arizona House of Representatives on April 13 by a 35–21 party-line vote. The revised measure then passed the State Senate on April 19 by a 17–11 vote that also closely followed party lines, with all but one Republican voting for the bill, ten Democrats voting against it, and two Democrats abstaining.
After a bill passes, the Arizona governor has five days to either sign, veto, or allow it to pass without the governor's signature. The question became whether Governor Brewer would sign the bill into law, as she had remained silent on her opinion of SB1070. Immigration had not previously been a focus of her political career, although as secretary of state she had supported Arizona Proposition 200 (2004). 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. 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. During the bill's development, her staff had reviewed its language line by line with State Senator Pearce, but she had said she had concerns about several of its provisions. The Mexican Senate
The Senate of the Republic, ( es, Senado de la República) constitutionally Chamber of Senators of the Honorable Congress of the Union ( es, Cámara de Senadores del H. Congreso de la Unión), is the upper house of Mexico's bicameral Congre ...
urged the governor to veto the bill and the Mexican Embassy to the U.S. raised concerns about potential racial profiling
Racial profiling or ethnic profiling is the act of suspecting, targeting or discriminating against a person on the basis of their ethnicity, religion or nationality, rather than on individual suspicion or available evidence. Racial profiling involv ...
that may result. Citizen messages to Brewer, however, were 3–1 in favor of the law. A Rasmussen Reports
Rasmussen Reports is an American polling company founded in 2003. The company engages in political commentary and the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information. Rasmussen Reports conducts nightly tracking, ...
poll taken between the House and Senate votes showed wide support for the bill among likely voters in the state, with 70 percent in favor and 23 percent opposed. The same poll showed 53 percent were at least somewhat concerned that actions taken due to the measures in the bill would violate the civil rights of some American citizens. Brewer's staff said that she was considering the legal issues, the impact on the state's business, and the feelings of the citizens in coming to her decision. They added that "she agonizes over these things," and the governor also prayed over the matter. Brewer's political allies said her decision would cause political trouble no matter what she decided. Most observers expected that she would sign the bill, and on April 23 she did.
During the wait for a signing decision, there were over a thousand people at the Arizona State Capitol
The Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, was the last home for Arizona's Territorial government, until Arizona became a state in 1912. Initially, all three branches of the new state government occupied the four floors of t ...
both in support of and opposition to the bill, and some minor civil unrest occurred. 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." She vowed to ensure that police forces had proper training relative to the law and civil rights, and on the same day as the signing she issued an executive order requiring additional training for all officers on how to implement SB 1070 without engaging in racial profiling. Ultimately, she said, "We have to trust our law enforcement." (The training materials developed by the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training
In the United States, certification and licensure requirements for law enforcement officers vary significantly from state to state.Jeffrey S. Magers, "Police Officer Standard and Training Commissions (POST Commissions)" in ''Encyclopedia of Law ...
Board were released in June 2010.)
Sponsor Pearce called the law's passage "a good day for America."
News of the law and the debate around immigration gained national attention, especially on cable news television channels, where topics that attract strong opinions are often given extra airtime.
Nevertheless, the legislators were surprised by the reaction it gained. State Representative Michele Reagan reflected three months later: "The majority of us who voted yes on that bill, myself included, did not expect or encourage an outcry from the public. The majority of us just voted for it because we thought we could try to fix the problem. Nobody envisioned boycotts. Nobody anticipated the emotion, the prayer vigils. The attitude was: These are the laws, let's start following them." State Representative Kyrsten Sinema
Kyrsten Lea Sinema (; born July 12, 1976) is an American politician and former social worker serving as the senior United States senator from Arizona since January 2019. A former member of the Democratic Party, Sinema became an independent in ...
, the assistant House minority leader (and current U.S. Senator) tried to stop the bill and voted against it. She similarly reflected: "I knew it would be bad, but no one thought it would be this big. No one."
The immigration issue also gained center stage in the re-election campaign of Republican U.S. Senator from Arizona John McCain, who had been a past champion of federal immigration reform measures such as the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007
The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (full name: Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007 ()) was a bill discussed in the 110th United States Congress that would have provided legal status and a path to ...
. Also faced with a primary battle against the more conservative J. D. Hayworth
John David Hayworth Jr. (born July 12, 1958) is an American television host and former politician. He served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2007 from Arizona's 5th Congressional District. He curr ...
, 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. McCain subsequently became a vocal defender of the law, saying that the state had been forced to take action given the federal government's inability to control the border.
In September 2014, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton ordered SB 1070 sponsor Russell Pearce to comply with a subpoena calling for him to turn over his emails and documents about the contentious statute. Challengers of the bill wanted to determine from them whether there was a discriminatory intent in composing the statute.
Reaction
Opinion polls
A Rasmussen Reports
Rasmussen Reports is an American polling company founded in 2003. The company engages in political commentary and the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information. Rasmussen Reports conducts nightly tracking, ...
poll done nationally around the time of the signing indicated that 60 percent of Americans were in favor of and 31 percent opposed to legislation that allows local police to "stop and verify the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being an undocumented immigrant." The same poll also indicated that 58 percent are at least somewhat concerned that "efforts to identify and deport undocumented immigrants will also end up violating the civil rights of some U.S. citizens." A national Gallup Poll
Gallup, Inc. is an American analytics and advisory company based in Washington, D.C. Founded by George Gallup in 1935, the company became known for its public opinion polls conducted worldwide. Starting in the 1980s, Gallup transitioned its ...
found that more than three-quarters of Americans had heard about the law, and of those who had, 51 percent were in favor of it against 39 percent opposed. An Angus Reid Public Opinion poll indicated that 71 percent of Americans said they supported the notion of requiring their own police to determine people's status if there was "reasonable suspicion" the people were undocumented immigrants, and arresting those people if they could not prove they were legally in the United States. A nationwide ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''/ CBS News poll found similar results to the others, with 51 percent of respondents saying the Arizona law was "about right" in its approach to the problem of undocumented immigration, 36 percent saying it went too far, and 9 percent saying it did not go far enough. Another CBS News poll, conducted a month after the signing, showed 52 percent seeing the law as about right, 28 percent thinking it goes too far, and 17 percent thinking it does not go far enough. A 57 percent majority thought that the federal government should be responsible for determining immigration law. A national Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
poll found that 61 percent of respondents thought Arizona was right to take action itself rather than wait for federal action, and 64 percent thought the Obama administration should wait and see how the law works in practice rather than trying to stop it right away. Experts caution that in general, polling has difficulty reflecting complex immigration issues and law.
Another Rasmussen poll, done statewide after several days of heavy news coverage about the controversial law and its signing, found a large majority of Arizonans still supported it, by a 64 percent to 30 percent margin. Rasmussen also found that Brewer's approval ratings as governor had shot up, going from 40 percent of likely voters before the signing to 56 percent after, and that her margin over prospective Democratic gubernatorial opponent, State Attorney General Terry Goddard
Samuel Pearson Goddard III (born January 29, 1947) is an American attorney and politician. He served as the Mayor of Phoenix from 1984 to 1990, on the Central Arizona Water Conservation District from 2001 to 2003 and as the 24th Attorney Genera ...
(who opposes the law) had widened. A poll done by Arizona State University researchers found that 81 percent of registered Latino voters in the state opposed SB 1070.
Public officials
United States
In the United States, supporters and opponents of the bill have roughly followed party lines, with most Democrats opposing the bill and most Republicans supporting it.
The bill was criticized by President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
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." Obama did later note that the HB 2162 modification had stipulated that the law not be applied in a discriminatory fashion, but the president said there was still the possibility of suspected undocumented immigrants "being harassed and arrested". He repeatedly called for federal immigration reform
Immigration reform is change to the current immigration policy of a country. In its strict definition, ''reform'' means "to change into an improved form or condition, by amending or removing faults or abuses". In the political sense, "immigration ...
legislation to forestall such actions among the states and as the only long-term solution to the problem of unlawful immigration. Governor Brewer and President Obama met at the White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
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.
Secretary of Homeland Security and former Arizona governor Janet Napolitano
Janet Ann Napolitano (; born November 29, 1957) is an American politician, lawyer, and university administrator who served as the 21st governor of Arizona from 2003 to 2009 and third United States secretary of homeland security from 2009 to 20 ...
testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee
The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...
that she had "deep concerns" about the law and that it would divert necessary law enforcement resources from combating violent criminals. (As governor, Napolitano had consistently vetoed similar legislation throughout her term.) U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder
Eric Himpton Holder Jr. (born January 21, 1951) is an American lawyer who served as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States from 2009 to 2015. Holder, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama, was the first African Amer ...
said the federal government was considering several options, including a court challenge based on the law leading to possible civil rights violations. Michael Posner, the , brought up the law in discussions with a Chinese delegation to illustrate human rights areas the U.S. needed to improve on. This led McCain and fellow senator from Arizona Jon Kyl to strongly object to any possibly implied comparison of the law to human rights abuses in China
Human rights in mainland China are periodically reviewed by the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC), on which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Government of China, government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and various fore ...
. Senior Democratic U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer
Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Schumer is in his fourth Senate term, having held his seat since 1999, an ...
of New York and Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg have criticized the law, with Bloomberg stating that it sends exactly the wrong message to international companies and travelers.
In testimony before the Senate Homeland Security Committee
The United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is the chief oversight committee of the United States Senate. It has jurisdiction over matters related to the Department of Homeland Security and other homeland s ...
, McCain drew out that Napolitano had made her remarks before having actually read the law. Holder also acknowledged that he had not read the statute. The admissions by the two cabinet secretaries that they had not yet read SB 1070 became an enduring criticism of the reaction against the law.
Former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin accused the party in power of being willing to "criticize bills (and divide the country with ensuing rhetoric) without actually reading them." Governor Brewer's election campaign issued a video featuring a frog hand puppet that sang "reading helps you know what you're talkin' 'bout" and urged viewers to fully read the law. In reaction to the question, President Obama told a group of Republican senators that he had in fact read the law.
Democrat Linda Sánchez
Linda Teresa Sánchez (born January 28, 1969) is an American politician and former labor lawyer serving as the U.S. representative for . A member of the Democratic Party, Sánchez was first elected to Congress in 2002. She serves on the Ways ...
, U.S. Representative from California's 39th congressional district, has claimed that white supremacy
White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...
groups are in part to blame for the law's passage, saying, "There's a concerted effort behind promoting these kinds of laws on a state-by-state basis by people who have ties to white supremacy groups. It's been documented. It's not mainstream politics." Republican Representative Gary Miller, from California's 42nd congressional district
California's 42nd congressional district is a U.S. congressional district in California. The district is currently represented by .
The 42nd district is located entirely within Los Angeles County, and is centered around Long Beach and its sur ...
, called her remarks "an outrageous accusation nd ared herring. he'strying to change the debate from what the law says." Sánchez' district is in Los Angeles County and Miller's district is in both Los Angeles County and neighboring Orange County
Orange County most commonly refers to:
*Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Orange County may also refer to:
U.S. counties
*Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando
*Orange County, Indiana
*Orange County, New ...
.
The law has been popular among the Republican Party base electorate; however, several Republicans have opposed aspects of the measure, mostly from those who have represented heavily Hispanic states. These include former Governor of Florida Jeb Bush
John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Bush, who grew up in Houston, was the second son of former President George H. W. Bush ...
, former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives and sitting U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, and former George W. Bush chief political strategist Karl Rove. 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. The issue played a role in several Republican primary contests during the 2010 congressional election season.
One Arizona Democrat who defended some of the motivation behind the bill was Congresswoman Gabby Giffords
Gabrielle Dee Giffords (born June 8, 1970) is an American retired politician and gun control advocate who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives representing from January 2007 until January 2012, when she resigned ...
, who said her constituents were "sick and tired" of the federal government failing to protect the border, that the current situation was "completely unacceptable", and that the legislation was a "clear calling that the federal government needs to do a better job". However, she stopped short of supporting the law itself, saying it "does nothing to secure our border" and that it "stands in direct contradiction to our past and, as a result, threatens our future." Her opposition to the law became one of the issues in her 2010 re-election campaign, in which she narrowly prevailed over her Republican opponent, who supported it.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
included the dispute over SB 1070 in an August 2010 report to the , as an example to other countries of how fractious issues can be resolved under the rule of law. Governor Brewer demanded that the reference to the law be removed from the report, seeing its inclusion as implying that the law was a violation of human rights and saying that any notion of submitting U.S. laws to U.N. review was "internationalism run amok".
Mexico
Mexican President Felipe Calderón
Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa (; born 18 August 1962) is a Mexican politician who served as the 63rd president of Mexico from 1 December 2006 to 30 November 2012 and Secretary of Energy during the presidency of Vicente Fox between 2003 ...
's office said that "the Mexican government condemns the approval of the law ndthe criminalization of migration." President Calderón also characterized the new law as a "violation of human rights". Calderón repeated his criticism during a subsequent state visit to the White House.
The measure was also strongly criticized by Mexican health minister José Ángel Córdova
José Ángel Córdova Villalobos (born 19 August 1953, in Mexico) is a Mexican politician who served as Secretary of Health and Secretary of Public Education during Felipe Calderón administration.
Córdova Villalobos obtained a medical degree, ...
, former education minister Josefina Vázquez Mota, and Governor of Baja California José Guadalupe Osuna Millán
José Guadalupe Osuna Millán (born December 10, 1955) is a Mexican economist and politician member of the National Action Party (Mexico), National Action Party (PAN) who served as Governor of Baja California.
Personal life and education
Osun ...
, with Osuna saying it "could disrupt the indispensable economic, political and cultural exchanges of the entire border region." The Mexican Foreign Ministry issued a travel advisory A travel warning, travel alert, or travel advisory is an official warning statement issued by government agencies to provide information about the relative safety of travelling to or visiting one or more specific foreign countries or destinations. ...
for its citizens visiting Arizona, saying "It must be assumed that every Mexican citizen may be harassed and questioned without further cause at any time."
In response to these comments, Chris Hawley of ''USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...
'' 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. Immigration and human rights activists have also noted that Mexican authorities frequently engage in racial profiling, harassment, and shakedowns against migrants from Central America.
The law imperiled the 28th annual, binational Border Governors Conference, scheduled to be held in Phoenix in September 2010 and to be hosted by Governor Brewer. 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. Governors Bill Richardson
William Blaine Richardson III (born November 15, 1947) is an American politician, author, and diplomat who served as the 30th governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011. He was also the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Energy Secretary ...
of New Mexico and Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, U.S. border governors who oppose the law, supported moving the conference to another state and going forward with it, and it was subsequently held in Santa Fe, New Mexico without Brewer attending.
Arizona law enforcement
Arizona's law enforcement groups have been split on the bill, with statewide rank-and-file police officer groups generally supporting it and police chief associations opposing it.
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. Additionally, some officers have repeated the past concern that undocumented immigrants may come to fear the police and not contact them in situations of emergency or in instances where they have valuable knowledge of a crime. However, the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, which represents the city's police officers, has supported the legislation and lobbied aggressively for its passage. Officers supporting the measure say they have many indicators other than race they can use to determine whether someone may be an undocumented immigrant, such as absent identification or conflicting statements made.
The measure was hailed by Joe Arpaio
Joseph Michael Arpaio (; born June 14, 1932) is an American former law enforcement officer and politician. He served as the 36th Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona for 24 years, from 1993 to 2017, losing reelection to Democrat Paul Penzone i ...
, Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona
Maricopa County is in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 4,420,568, making it the state's most populous county, and List of the most populous counties in the ...
– known for his tough crackdowns on undocumented immigration within his own jurisdiction – who hoped the measure would cause the federal action to seal the border. Arpaio said, "I think they'll be afraid that other states will follow this new law that's now been passed."
Religious organizations and perspectives
Activists within the church were present on both sides of the immigration debate, and both proponents and opponents of the law appealed to religious arguments for support.
State Senator Pearce, a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
, which has a substantial population in Arizona, frequently said that his efforts to push forward this legislation was based on that church's 13 Articles of Faith, one of which instructs in obeying the law. This association caused a backlash against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and threatened its proselytizing efforts among the area's Hispanic population. The church emphasized that it took no position on the law or immigration in general and that Pearce did not speak for it. It later endorsed the Utah Compact on immigration and in the following year, took an official position on the issue which opposed Pearce's approach to immigration, saying, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is concerned that any state legislation that only contains enforcement provisions is likely to fall short of the high moral standard of treating each other as children of God. The Church supports an approach where undocumented immigrants are allowed to square themselves with the law and continue to work without this necessarily leading to citizenship."
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops denounced the law, characterizing it as draconian and saying it "could lead to the wrongful questioning and arrest of U.S. citizens." The National Council of Churches
The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, usually identified as the National Council of Churches (NCC), is the largest ecumenical body in the United States. NCC is an ecumenical partnership of 38 Christian faith groups in the Un ...
also criticized the law, saying that it ran counter to centuries of biblical teachings regarding justice and neighborliness.
Other members of the Christian clergy differed on the law. United Methodist Church Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño of Arizona's Desert Southwest Conference opposed it as "unwise, short sighted and mean spirited" and led a mission of prominent religious figures to Washington to lobby for comprehensive immigration reform. But others stressed the Biblical command to follow laws. While there was a perception that most Christian groups opposed the law, Mark Tooley of the Institute on Religion and Democracy
The Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) is an American Christian conservative think tank that promotes its views among mainline Protestant churches, as well as advocating for its values in the public square. Its critics claim that it has bee ...
said that immigration was a political issue that "Christians across the spectrum can disagree about" and that liberal churches were simply more outspoken on this matter.
Concerns over potential civil rights violations
The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials said the legislation was "an unconstitutional and costly measure that will violate the civil rights of all Arizonans." Mayor Chris Coleman of Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center ...
, labeled it as "draconian" as did Democratic Texas House of Representatives
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abo ...
member Garnet Coleman. Edwin Kneedler, the U.S. Deputy Solicitor General, also criticized the legislation for its potential infringement on the civil liberties of Arizona's citizens and lawful permanent residents.
Proponents with the law have rejected such criticism, and argued that the law was reasonable, limited, and carefully crafted. Stewart Baker, a former Homeland Security official in the George W. Bush administration
George W. Bush's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2001, and ended on January 20, 2009. Bush, a Republican from Texas, took office following a narrow victory over Democratic ...
, said, "The coverage of this law and the text of the law are a little hard to square. There's nothing in the law that requires cities to stop people without cause, or encourages racial or ethnic profiling by itself."
Republican member with the Arizona House of Representatives Steve Montenegro supported the law, saying that "This bill has nothing to do with race or profiling. It has to do with the law. We are seeing a lot of crime here in Arizona because of the open borders that we have." Montenegro, who legally immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador with his family when he was four, stated, "I am saying if you here illegally, get in line, come in the right way."
As one of the main drafters of the law, Kobach has stated that the way the law has been written makes any form of racial profiling
Racial profiling or ethnic profiling is the act of suspecting, targeting or discriminating against a person on the basis of their ethnicity, religion or nationality, rather than on individual suspicion or available evidence. Racial profiling involv ...
unlawful. In particular, Kobach references the phrase in the law that directly states that officers "may not solely consider race, color, or national origin." Kobach also disagrees that the "reasonable suspicion" clause of the bill specifically allows for racial profiling, replying that the term "reasonable suspicion" has been used in other laws prior and therefore has "legal precedent".
However, there are ongoing arguments in legal journal articles that racial profiling does exist and threatens human security Human security is a paradigm for understanding global vulnerabilities whose proponents challenges the traditional notion of national security through military security by arguing that the proper referent for security should be at the human rather th ...
, particularly community security of the Mexicans living in the United States. 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. Andrea Nill argues that it is only a small portion of Mexicans and Latinos that are undocumented immigrants, but there is a demonization and illogical discrimination of Latino community by giving less respect, rights, and freedoms, whereas white American citizens will never have to worry about being stopped by the police due to their skin color.
Some Latino leaders compared the law to Apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
in South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
or the Japanese American internment during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. The law's aspect that officers may question the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country unlawfully became characterized in some quarters as the "show me your papers" or "your papers, please" provision. This echoed a common trope regarding Germans in World War II films. Such an association was explicitly made by Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky
Janice Schakowsky ( ; née Danoff; born May 26, 1944) is an American politician who has served as the U.S. representative from since 1999. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
The district is anchored in Chicago's North Side, including ...
of Illinois. Congressman Jared Polis
Jared Schutz Polis (; born May 12, 1975) is an American politician, entrepreneur, businessman, and philanthropist, serving as the 43rd governor of Colorado since January 2019. He served one term on the Colorado State Board of Education from 20 ...
of Colorado and Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn
Janice Kay Hahn (born March 30, 1952) is an American politician serving as the member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors from the 4th district since 2016 and Chair of Los Angeles County since 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, ...
also said the law's requirement to carry papers all the time was reminiscent of the anti-Jewish legislation in prewar Nazi Germany
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
and feared that Arizona was headed towards becoming a police state
A police state describes a state where its government institutions exercise an extreme level of control over civil society and liberties. There is typically little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the ...
. Cardinal Roger Mahony
Roger Michael Mahony (born February 27, 1936) is an American cardinal and retired prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Los Angeles from 1985 to 2011. Before his appointment, he served as Auxiliary Bishop of Fresno from ...
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." The Anti-Defamation League called for an end to the comparisons with Nazi Germany, saying that no matter how odious or unconstitutional the Arizona law might be, it did not compare to the role that Nazi identity cards played in what eventually became the extermination of European Jews.
In its final form, HB 2162 limits the use of race. It states: "A law enforcement official or agency of this state or a county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state may not consider race, color or national origin in implementing the requirements of this subsection except to the extent permitted by the United States or Arizona Constitution." The U.S. and Arizona supreme courts have held that race may be considered in enforcing immigration law. In '' United States v. Brignoni-Ponce'', the U.S. Supreme Court found: "The likelihood that any given person of Mexican ancestry is an alien is high enough to make Mexican appearance a relevant factor." The Arizona Supreme Court agrees that "enforcement of immigration laws often involves a relevant consideration of ethnic factors." Both decisions say that race alone, however, is an insufficient basis to stop or arrest.
Protests
Thousands of people staged protests in state capital Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
over the law around the time of its signing, and a pro-immigrant activist called the measure "racist". Passage of the HB 2162 modifications to the law, although intended to address some of the criticisms of it, did little to change the minds of the law's opponents.
Tens of thousands of people demonstrated against the law in over 70 U.S. cities on May 1, 2010, a day traditionally used around the world to assert workers' rights. A rally in Los Angeles, attended by Cardinal Mahoney, attracted between 50,000 and 60,000 people, with protesters waving Mexican flags and chanting "Sí se puede
"Sí, se puede" (Spanish for "Yes, it is possible" or, roughly, "Yes, we can"; ) is the motto of the United Farm Workers of America, and has since been taken up by other activist groups. In 1972, during César Chávez's 25-day fast in Phoenix, ...
". The city had become the national epicenter of protests against the Arizona law. Around 25,000 people were at a protest in Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
, and more than 5,000 were in Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
and Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...
, while rallies in other cities generally attracted around a thousand people or so. Democratic U.S. Congressman from Illinois Luis Gutiérrez
Luis Vicente Gutiérrez (born December 10, 1953) is an American politician. He served as the U.S. representative for from 1993 to 2019. From 1986 until his election to Congress, he served as a member of the Chicago City Council representing th ...
was part of a 35-person group arrested in front of the White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
in a planned act of civil disobedience that was also urging President Obama to push for comprehensive immigration reform. There and in some other locations, demonstrators expressed frustration with what they saw as the administration's lack of action on immigration reform, with signs holding messages such as "Hey Obama! Don't deport my mama."
Protests both for and against the Act took place over Memorial Day Weekend
Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...
in Phoenix and commanded thousands of people. Those opposing it, mostly consisting of Latinos, marched five miles to the State Capitol in high heat, while those supporting it met in a stadium in an event arranged by elements of the Tea Party movement
The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2009. Members of the movement called for lower taxes and for a reduction of the national debt and federal budget defi ...
.
Protests against the law extended to the arts and sports world as well. Colombian pop singer Shakira
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977), professionally known by the mononym Shakira, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she has been referred to as the " Queen of Latin Music" and is n ...
came to Phoenix and gave a joint press conference against the bill with Mayor of Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
Phil Gordon. Linda Ronstadt
Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...
, of part Mexican descent and raised in Arizona, also appeared in Phoenix and said, "Mexican-Americans are not going to take this lying down." A concert of May 16 in Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
's Zócalo
The Zócalo () is the common name of the main square in central Mexico City. Prior to the colonial period, it was the main ceremonial center in the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. The plaza used to be known simply as the "Main Square" or "Arms Sq ...
, called ''Prepa Si Youth For Dignity: We Are All Arizona'', drew some 85,000 people to hear Molotov, Jaguares, and Maldita Vecindad
La Maldita Vecindad y los Hijos del Quinto Patio (, usually called only "La Maldita") is a band formed in Mexico City in 1985. They are pioneers of rock en español and one of the most influential rock bands in Mexico.
They first made an impac ...
headline a seven-hour show in protest against the law.
The Major League Baseball Players Association
The Major League Baseball Players Association (or MLBPA) is the union representing all current Major League Baseball players. All players, managers, coaches, and athletic trainers who hold or have held a signed contract with a Major League cl ...
, of whose members one quarter are born outside the U.S., said that the law "could have a negative impact on hundreds of major league players," especially since many teams come to Arizona for spring training, and called for it to be "repealed or modified promptly." A Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
game at Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago ...
where the Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...
were visiting the Chicago Cubs saw demonstrators protesting the law. Protesters focused on the Diamondbacks because owner Ken Kendrick
Earl Gentry "Ken" Kendrick, Jr. (born September 2, 1943) is an American businessman who is the principal owner and managing general partner of the National League's Arizona Diamondbacks. He became part-owner with the team's inception in 1995. He h ...
had been a prominent fundraiser in Republican causes, but he in fact opposed the law. The Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
wore their "Los Suns" uniforms normally used for the league's "Noche Latina" program for their May 5, 2010 (Cinco de Mayo
Cinco de Mayo ( in Mexico, Spanish for "Fifth of May") is a yearly celebration held on May 5, which commemorates the anniversary of Mexico's victory over the Second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, led by General Ignacio Zaragoz ...
) playoff game against the San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...
to show their support for Arizona's Latino community and to voice disapproval of the immigration law. The Suns' political action, rare in American team sports, created a firestorm and drew opposition from many of the teams' fans; President Obama highlighted it, while conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of '' The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM r ...
called the move "cowardice, pure and simple."
Boycotts
Boycotts of Arizona were organized in response to SB 1070, with resolutions by city governments being among the first to materialize. The government of San Francisco
The government of the City and County of San Francisco utilizes the " strong mayor" form of mayoral/council government, composed of the Mayor, Board of Supervisors, several elected officers, and numerous other entities. It is the only consolida ...
, the Los Angeles City Council
The Los Angeles City Council is the legislative body of the City of Los Angeles in California.
The council is composed of 15 members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro tem ...
, and city officials in Oakland, Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
, Saint Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
, Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
, and Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
all took specific action, usually by banning some of their employees from work-related travel to Arizona or by limiting city business done with companies headquartered in Arizona.
In an attempt to push back against the Los Angeles City Council's action, which was valued at $56 million,[ Arizona Corporation Commissioner ]Gary Pierce
Gary L. Pierce (born c. 1952) is a former Arizona Corporation Commissioner and a former member of the Arizona House of Representatives.
Political career
In the House of Representatives, Mr. Pierce served as the Majority Whip (2005–2006). He ...
sent a letter to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa (; né Villar Jr.; born January 23, 1953) is an American politician who served as the 41st Mayor of Los Angeles from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Villaraigosa was a national co-chairman of Hillar ...
, suggesting that he'd "be happy to encourage Arizona utilities to renegotiate your power agreements so that Los Angeles no longer receives any power from Arizona-based generation." Such a move was infeasible for reasons of ownership and governance, and Pierce later stated that he was not making a literal threat to cut power to the city.
U.S. Congressman Raúl Grijalva
Raúl Manuel Grijalva (; born February 19, 1948) is an American politician and activist who has served as the United States representative for since 2003. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, numbered as the 7th from 2003 to 2 ...
, from Arizona's 7th congressional district
Arizona's 7th congressional district is a congressional district located in the U.S. state of Arizona. The district includes the western third of Tucson, part of Yuma and Nogales, and some peripheral parts of metro Phoenix. It is currently repr ...
, had been the first prominent officeholder to call for an economic boycott of his state, by industries from manufacturing to tourism, in response to SB 1070. His call was echoed by ''La Opinión
''La Opinión'' is a Spanish-language daily newspaper and website based in Los Angeles, California. It is the largest Spanish-language newspaper in the United States and the second-most read newspaper in Los Angeles (after ''The Los Angeles Time ...
'', the nation's largest Spanish-language newspaper. Calls for various kinds of boycotts were also spread through social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
sites, and there were reports of individuals or groups changing their plans or activities in protest of the law. The prospect of an adverse economic impact made Arizonan business leaders and groups nervous, and Phoenix officials estimated that the city could lose up to $90 million in hotel and convention business over the next five years due to the controversy over the law. Phoenix Mayor Gordon urged people not to punish the entire state as a consequence.
Major organizations opposing the law, such as the National Council of La Raza
UnidosUS, formerly National Council of La Raza (NCLR) (La Raza), is the United States's largest Latino nonprofit advocacy organization. It advocates in favor of progressive public policy changes including immigration reform, a path to citizen ...
, refrained from initially supporting a boycott, knowing that such actions are difficult to execute successfully and even if done cause broad economic suffering, including among the people they are supporting. 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
Martin Luther King Jr. Day (officially Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., and sometimes referred to as MLK Day) is a federal holiday in the United States marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. It is observed on the third Monda ...
state holiday and a subsequent failed initial referendum to restore it. La Raza subsequently switched its position regarding SB 1070 and became one of the leaders of the boycott effort.
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. Other state business groups opposed a boycott for the same reasons. Religious groups opposed to the law split on whether a boycott was advisable, with Bishop Carcaño saying one "would only extend our recession by three to five years and hit those who are poorest among us." Representative Grijalva said he wanted to keep a boycott restricted to conferences and conventions and only for a limited time: "The idea is to send a message, not grind down the state economy." Governor Brewer said that she was disappointed and surprised at the proposed boycotts – "How could further punishing families and businesses, large and small, be a solution viewed as constructive?" – but said that the state would not back away from the law. President Obama took no position on the matter, saying, "I'm the president of the United States, I don't endorse boycotts or not endorse boycotts. That's something that private citizens can make a decision about."
Sports-related boycotts were proposed as well. U.S. Congressman from New York José Serrano asked baseball commissioner Bud Selig
Allan Huber "Bud" Selig
(; born July 30, 1934) is an American baseball executive who currently serves as the Commissioner Emeritus of Baseball. Previously, he served as the ninth Commissioner of Baseball from 1998 to 2015. He initially served as ...
to move the 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 82nd in-season exhibition game between the All-Stars of the National League (NL) and the American League (AL); the leagues composing Major League Baseball. The event was held on Tuesday, Ju ...
from Chase Field
Chase Field, formerly Bank One Ballpark, is a retractable roof stadium in Downtown Phoenix, Arizona. It is the home of Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks. It opened in 1998, the year the Diamondbacks debuted as an expansion team. Ch ...
in Phoenix. The manager of the Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...
, Ozzie Guillén
Oswaldo José Guillén Barrios (; born January 20, 1964) is a former professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop for 16 seasons, primarily with the Chicago White Sox, from 1985 to 2000. During tha ...
, stated that he would boycott that game "as a Latin American" and several players indicated they might as well. Selig refused to move the game and it took place as scheduled a year later, with no players or coaches staying away. Two groups protesting outside the stadium drew little interest from fans eager to get into the game. The World Boxing Council
The World Boxing Council (WBC) is an international professional boxing organization. It is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation ...
, based in Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
, said it would not schedule Mexican boxers to fight in the state.
A boycott by musicians saying they would not stage performances in Arizona was co-founded by Marco Amador, a Chicano activist and independent media advocate and Zack de la Rocha
Zacharias Manuel de la Rocha (born January 12, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, and political activist. He is best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the rock band Rage Against the Machine. Through both Rage Agains ...
, the lead singer of Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to simply Rage) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commer ...
and the son of Beto de la Rocha of Chicano art group Los Four
Los Four (active from 1973–1983) was a Chicano artist collective active based in Los Angeles, California. The group was instrumental in bringing the Chicano art movement to the attention of the mainstream art world.
Members
The Chicano artist ...
, who said, "Some of us grew up dealing with racial profiling, but this law (SB 1070) takes it to a whole new low." Called the Sound Strike, artists signing on with the effort included Kanye West
Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer.
Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...
, Cypress Hill, Massive Attack
Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall.
The debut Massive Attack album '' Blue Lines'' was releas ...
, Conor Oberst
Conor Mullen Oberst (born February 15, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter best known for his work in Bright Eyes. He has also played in several other bands, including Desaparecidos, the Faint (previously named Norman Bailer), Commander V ...
, Sonic Youth, Joe Satriani
Joseph Satriani (born July 15, 1956)Prato, Greg"Joe Satriani – Music Biography, Credits and Discography". '' AllMusic''. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved May 28, 2014. is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and guitar teacher. Early in his ...
, Rise Against, Tenacious D
Tenacious D is an American comedy rock duo formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994. It was founded by actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass, who were members of The Actors' Gang theater company at the time. The duo's name is derived from "ten ...
, The Coup
The Coup is an American hip hop band from Oakland, California. Their music is an amalgamation of influences, including funk, punk, hip hop, and soul. Frontman Boots Riley's revolutionarily-charged lyrics rank The Coup as a renowned political ...
, Gogol Bordello
Gogol Bordello is an American punk rock band from the Lower East Side of Manhattan, formed in 1999 by musicians from all over the world and known for theatrical stage shows and persistent touring. Much of the band's sound is inspired by Ro ...
, and Los Tigres del Norte
Los Tigres del Norte (English: ''The Tigers of the North'') are a norteño band from San Jose, California. Originally founded in Mocorito, Sinaloa, Mexico, with sales of 60 million albums, the band is one of the most recognized groups in the ...
. Some other Spanish-language artists did not join this effort but avoided playing in Arizona on their tours anyway; these included Pitbull
Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...
, Wisin & Yandel
Wisin & Yandel is a Puerto Rican reggaeton duo consisting of Wisin and Yandel. They started their career in the late 1990s and have been together since, winning several awards including a Grammy Award in 2009. They became the first and the onl ...
, and Conjunto Primavera
Conjunto Primavera is a Mexican Norteño-Sax band from Ojinaga, Chihuahua. In the 1990s and 2000s they were one of the most popular acts in Regional Mexican music.
History
Conjunto Primavera was formed on the first day of spring in 1978 by the ...
. The Sound Strike boycott failed to gain support from many area- or stadium-level acts, and no country music acts signed on. Elton John very publicly opposed such efforts, saying at a concert performance in Tucson: "We are all very pleased to be playing in Arizona. I have read that some of the artists won't come here. They are fuckwits! Let's face it: I still play in California, and as a gay man I have no legal rights whatsoever. So what's the fuck up with these people?" By November 2010, Pitbull had announced a change of heart, playing a show in Phoenix because large parts of the law had been stopped by the judicial action. My Chemical Romance
My Chemical Romance (commonly abbreviated to MCR or My Chem) is an American rock band from Newark, New Jersey. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, lead guitarist Ray Toro, rhythm guitarist Frank Iero, and bassist ...
, an original Sound Strike participant, supposedly dropped out and scheduled a show in the state as well (however, the following day the show was cancelled and the band apologized, explaining that it was an error with tour scheduling and it should not have been booked in the first place due to "the band's affiliation with The Sound Strike" ). 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
Secure Communities is a data-sharing program that relies on coordination between federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.ICE. Secure Communities: A Comprehensive Plan to Identify and Remove Criminal Aliens (Strategic Plan). July 21, 2009 ...
, and other U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...
policies.
In reaction to the boycott talk, proponents of the law advocated making a special effort to buy products and services from Arizona in order to indicate support for the law. These efforts, sometimes termed a "buycott", were spread by social media and talk radio as well as by elements of the Tea Party movement
The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2009. Members of the movement called for lower taxes and for a reduction of the national debt and federal budget defi ...
. Some supporters of the law and legal scholars have also suggested that the city government boycotts of Arizona represent an unconstitutional violation of the Interstate Commerce Clause
The Commerce Clause describes an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution ( Article I, Section 8, Clause 3). The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and amon ...
.
By early May, the state had lost a projected $6–10 million in business revenue, according to the Arizona Hotel & Lodging Association. However, an increase in leisure travel and an overall economic recovery more than compensated for the business travel loss; by July, overall hotel occupancy rates and revenues were up from the same period in 2009. The president of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council said, "Fundamentally, the boycotts have been unsuccessful." A November 2010 study by the progressive-oriented Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress (CAP) is a public policy research and advocacy organization which presents a liberal viewpoint on economic and social issues. It has its headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The president and chief executive offic ...
stated that the boycott had so far cost the state economy as much as $141 million in lost revenues, including $45 million in the lodging industry. However, an examination at the same time by the Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...
found that while the boycott had been disruptive in some areas, it had had nowhere near the effect some had originally imagined. 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. Sports-related boycotts, such as of the Fiesta Bowl
The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been pla ...
, sponsor Frito-Lay
Frito-Lay is an American subsidiary of PepsiCo that manufactures, markets, and sells corn chips, potato chips, and other snack foods. The primary snack food brands produced under the Frito-Lay name include Fritos corn chips, Cheetos cheese-fla ...
and beer distributor Hensley & Co., had also had no effect. In September 2011 La Raza and two associated groups called off their boycott, saying that the action had been successful in discouraging some other states from passing SB 1070-like laws and that continuing the boycott would only punish businesses and workers.
Effects
Arizona
Some Christian churches in Arizona with large immigrant congregations reported a 30 percent drop in their attendance figures. Schools, businesses, and health care facilities in certain areas also reported sizable drops in their numbers. That and the prevalence of yard sales suggested undocumented immigrants were leaving Arizona, with some returning to Mexico and others moving to other U.S. states. A November 2010 study by BBVA Bancomer
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (), better known by its initialism BBVA, is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Bilbao, Spain. It is one of the largest financial institutions in the world, and is present ...
based upon Current Population Survey
The Current Population Survey (CPS) is a monthly survey of about 60,000 U.S. households conducted by the United States Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS uses the data to publish reports early each month called the Em ...
figures stated that there were 100,000 fewer Hispanics in Arizona than before the debate about the law began; it said Arizona's poor economic climate could also be contributing to the decline. The government of Mexico reported that over 23,000 of its citizens returned to the country from Arizona between June and September 2010. A report by Seminario Niñez Migrante found that about 8,000 students entered into Sonora public schools in 2009–2011 with families quoting the American economy and SB 1070 as the main causes.
The weeks after the bill's signing saw a sharp increase in the number of Hispanics in the state registering their party affiliations as Democrats.
Some immigration experts said the law might make workers with H-1B visa
The H-1B is a visa in the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act, section 101(a)(15)(H) that allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. A specialty occupation requires the application of ...
s 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. Some college and university administrators shared this fear, and President Robert N. Shelton of the University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory.
T ...
expressed concern regarding the withdrawal of a number of honor roll students from the university in reaction to this bill.
Some women with questionable immigration status avoided domestic abuse hotlines and shelters for fear of deportation. Some critics of SB 1070 feared that it will serve as a roadblock to victims getting needed support, while supporters said such concerns were unfounded and that the Act was directed towards criminals, not victims.
While a few provisions of the law were left standing following the July 2010 blockage of the most controversial parts, authorities often kept following existing local ordinances in those areas in preference to using the new SB 1070 ones. One county sheriff said, "The whole thing is still on the shelf until the Supreme Court hears it." By mid-2012, those provisions had still rarely been made use of. The training that police forces had gone through to avoid racial profiling and understand federal immigration policies still had a beneficial effect overall.
A 2016 study found that the legislation "significantly reduced the flow of illegal workers into Arizona from Mexico by 30 to 70 percent."
In April 2020, plans were announced to build a new mural at the Arizona Capitol Museum
The Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, was the last home for Arizona's Territorial government, until Arizona became a state in 1912. Initially, all three branches of the new state government occupied the four floors of t ...
honoring those harmed by the law.
Other states
The Arizona legislation was one of several reasons pushing Democratic congressional leaders to introduce a proposal addressing immigration. Senator Schumer sent a letter to Governor Brewer asking her to delay the law while Congress works on comprehensive immigration reform, but Brewer quickly rejected the proposal.
Bills similar to SB 1070 were introduced in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...
, Michigan
Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
, Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
, and South Carolina
)'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
. None of them went to final votes in 2010; politicians in nearly twenty states had proposed introducing similar legislation during their 2011 legislative calendars. Such proposals drew strong reaction both for and against. The other states along the Mexican border – Texas, New Mexico, and California – generally showed little interest in following Arizona's path. 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 undocumented immigration was less severe a problem.
By March 2011, Arizona-like bills had been defeated or had failed to progress in at least six states and momentum had shifted against such imitative efforts. Reasons ranged from opposition from business leaders to fear among legislators of the legal costs of defending any adopted measure. One state that did pass a law based partly on SB 1070, Utah, combined it with a guest worker program that went in the other direction (and fit into the spirit of the Utah Compact). Even in Arizona itself, additional tough measures against undocumented immigration were having a difficult time gaining passage in the Arizona Senate. Other states were still waiting to see what the outcome of the legal battles would be. By September 2011, Indiana, Georgia, and South Carolina had passed somewhat similar measures and were facing legal action. Another anti-undocumented immigration measure, Alabama HB 56, was considered tougher even than SB 1070; it was signed into law in June 2011. However, federal courts subsequently blocked many of the key provisions of these laws in those states, and other provisions were dropped following settlements of lawsuits.
Political careers
State Senator Pearce rose to become President of the Arizona Senate in January 2011. But he then suffered a startling defeat when he lost a November 2011 recall election
A recall election (also called a recall referendum, recall petition or representative recall) is a procedure by which, in certain polities, voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of of ...
. Among the reasons given for his loss were the desire for greater civility in politics and a lessening of the tension over immigration policy
Border control refers to measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it a ...
, and a loss of support for Pearce among LDS Church members based on character issues. Other reasons for the defeat, such as concerns over Pearce's ethics in taking free trips or the involvement of a third candidacy in the recall election, had little to do with SB 1070. In August 2012, Pearce lost a comeback bid in the Republican primary for the nomination for a state senate seat to businessman Bob Worsley. Pearce was given another government job by the Maricopa County Treasurer.
Drafter of the law Kris Kobach won election as Secretary of State of Kansas
The secretary of state of Kansas is one of the constitutional officers of the U.S. state of Kansas. The current secretary of state is the former speaker ''pro tempore'' of the Kansas House of Representatives, Scott Schwab, who was sworn in on J ...
, first defeating two other candidates in a Republican primary, then winning the general election against Democratic incumbent Chris Biggs by a wide margin. Sheriff Joe Arpaio
Joseph Michael Arpaio (; born June 14, 1932) is an American former law enforcement officer and politician. He served as the 36th Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona for 24 years, from 1993 to 2017, losing reelection to Democrat Paul Penzone i ...
was among those who campaigned for Kobach.
State Attorney General Goddard did get the Democratic nomination in the 2010 Arizona gubernatorial election. Governor Jan Brewer went on to defeat him by a 54 to 42 percent margin in the November 2010 general election. A 2016 study found that the up-tick in Brewer's approval ratings due to the legislation "proved enduring enough to turn a losing race for re-election into a victory".
Legal challenges
Supremacy Clause vs. concurrent enforcement
The American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
(ACLU) criticized the statute as a violation of the Supremacy Clause
The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution of the United States ( Article VI, Clause 2) establishes that the Constitution, federal laws made pursuant to it, and treaties made under its authority, constitute the "supreme Law of the Land", and thu ...
of the United States Constitution, which states that federal law, so long as it is constitutional, is paramount over state laws. Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional scholar and dean of the University of California, Irvine School of Law said, "The law is clearly pre-empted by federal law under Supreme Court precedents."
According to Kobach, the law embodies the doctrine of "concurrent enforcement" (the state law parallels applicable federal law without any conflict), and Kobach stated that he believed that it would thus survive any challenge: "There are some things that states can do and some that states can't do, but this law threads the needle perfectly.... Arizona only penalizes what is already a crime under federal law." State Senator Pearce noted that some past state laws on immigration enforcement had been upheld in federal courts.
In ''Gonzales v. City of Peoria'' (9th Cir. 1983), a court held that the Immigration and Naturalization Act
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (), also known as the McCarran–Walter Act, codified under Title 8 of the United States Code (), governs immigration to and citizenship in the United States. It came into effect on June 27, 1952. Befor ...
precludes local enforcement of the Act's civil provisions but not the Act's criminal provisions. The US Attorney General
The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
may enter a written agreement with a state or local government agency under which that agency's employees perform the function of an immigration officer in relation to the investigation, apprehension, or detention of aliens in the United States;
however, such an agreement is not required for the agency's employees to perform those functions.
On the other hand, various legal experts were divided on whether the law would survive a court challenge, with one law professor saying it "sits right on that thin line of pure state criminal law and federally controlled immigration law." Past lower court decisions in the area were not always consistent, and a decision on the bill's legality from the US Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...
was one possible outcome.
Initial court actions
On April 27, 2010, Roberto Javier Frisancho, a natural born citizen and resident of Washington, D.C., who planned to visit Arizona, filed the first lawsuit against S.B. 1070. On April 29, 2010, the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders and a Tucson police officer, Martin Escobar, filed suit against SB 1070, both doing so separately in federal court. The National Coalition's filing claimed that the law usurped federal responsibilities under the Supremacy Clause that it led to racial profiling by imposing a "reasonable suspicion" requirement upon police officers to check the immigration status of those they come in official conduct with, which would, in turn, be subject to too much personal interpretation by each officer. Escobar's suit argued that there was no race-neutral criteria available to him to suspect that a person was an undocumented immigrant and that implementation of the law would hinder police investigations in areas that were predominantly Hispanic. The suit also claimed the Act violated federal law because the police and the city have no authority to perform immigration-related duties. The Tucson police department insisted that Escobar was not acting on its behalf and that it had received many calls from citizens complaining about his suit.
A Phoenix police officer, David Salgado, quickly followed with his own federal suit, claiming that to enforce the law would require him to violate the rights of Hispanics. He also said that he would be forced to spend his own time and resources studying the law's requirements and that he was liable to being sued whether he enforced the law or not.
On May 5, Tucson
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
, image_map =
, mapsize = 260px
, map_caption = Interactive map ...
and Flagstaff became the first two cities to authorize legal action against the state over the Act. San Luis later joined them. However, as of mid-late May, none of them had actually filed a suit. In late May, however, the city of Tucson filed a cross-claim
A crossclaim is a claim asserted between codefendants or coplaintiffs in a case and that relates to the subject of the original claim or counterclaim according to ''Black's Law Dictionary''. A cross claim is filed against someone who is a co-de ...
and joined Officer Escobar in his suit.
On May 17, a joint class action lawsuit
A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...
, ''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. The legal counsel filing the action, the largest of those filed, was a collaboration of the ACLU, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) is a national non-profit civil rights organization formed in 1968 by Jack Greenberg to protect the rights of Latinos in the United States."MALDEF" entry in ''Los Angeles A to Z: An ...
, the National Immigration Law Center, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...
, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network
The National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) is an American organization whose mission aims at improving the lives of day laborers. This organization was founded in Northridge, California, in July 2001, and is based in Los Angeles, Califor ...
, and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center. The suit seeks to prevent SB 1070 from going into effect by charging:
* It violates the federal Supremacy Clause by attempting to bypass federal immigration law;
* It violates the Fourteenth Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause rights of racial and national origin minorities by subjecting them to stops, detentions, and arrests based on their race or origin;
* It violates the First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
rights of freedom of speech by exposing speakers to scrutiny based on their language or accent;
* it violates the Fourth Amendment's prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures because it allows for warrantless searches in absence of probable cause;
* It violates the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause by being impermissibly vague;
* It infringes on constitutional provisions that protect the right to travel without being stopped, questioned, or detained.
This suit named County's Attorney and Sheriffs as defendants, rather than the State of Arizona or Governor Brewer, as the earlier suits had. On June 4, the ACLU and others filed a request for an injunction, arguing that the Act's scheduled start date of July 29 should be postponed until the underlying legal challenges against it were resolved.
Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice, the state affiliate of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) is an American criminal defense organization.
Members include private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, active U.S. military defense counsel, law professors, judges, and d ...
, alleged in an '' amicus curiae'' brief for the ACLU et al. case that the prolonged detentions mandated by the law if reasonable suspicion that someone subject to a lawful stop was an undocumented immigrant are not justifiable except under the probable cause
In United States criminal law, probable cause is the standard by which police authorities have reason to obtain a warrant for the arrest of a suspected criminal or the issuing of a search warrant. There is no universally accepted definition o ...
standard and so the law requires violations of Fourth Amendment rights. The Anti-Defamation League also filed an ''amicus curiae'' brief in support of the case. The Government of Mexico
The Federal government of Mexico (alternately known as the Government of the Republic or ' or ') is the national government of the United Mexican States, the central government established by its constitution to share sovereignty over the republ ...
said that the law was unconstitutional and would lead to unlawful discrimination against Mexican citizens and damage to relations between the two nations. Indeed, so many ''amicus curiae'' briefs have been filed regarding the law that size limits were imposed upon them.
Kobach remained optimistic that the suits would fail: "I think it will be difficult for the plaintiffs challenging this. They are heavy on political rhetoric but light on legal arguments." In late May 2010, Governor Brewer issued an executive order to create the Governor's Border Security and Immigration Legal Defense Fund to handle suits over the law. Brewer got into a dispute with Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard
Samuel Pearson Goddard III (born January 29, 1947) is an American attorney and politician. He served as the Mayor of Phoenix from 1984 to 1990, on the Central Arizona Water Conservation District from 2001 to 2003 and as the 24th Attorney Genera ...
over whether he would defend the law against legal challenges, as a state attorney general normally would. Brewer accused Goddard, who opposed the law personally and was one of Brewer's possible rivals in the gubernatorial election, of colluding with the US Justice Department as it deliberated whether to challenge the law in court. Goddard subsequently agreed to withdraw from the state's defense.
Department of Justice lawsuit
The United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...
filed a lawsuit against the state of Arizona in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona
The United States District Court for the District of Arizona (in case citations, D. Ariz.) is the United States district court, U.S. district court that covers the state of Arizona. It is under the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Ci ...
on July 6, 2010, asking for the law to be declared invalid since it interferes with the immigration regulations "exclusively vested in the federal government." In a brief to the press, the department's lawyers referenced the notion of federal preemption
In the law of the United States, federal preemption is the invalidation of a U.S. state law that conflicts with federal law.
Constitutional basis
According to the Supremacy Clause (Article VI, clause 2) of the United States Constitution,
This ...
and stated, "The Constitution and the federal immigration laws do not permit the development of a patchwork of state and local immigration policies throughout the country.... The immigration framework set forth by Congress and administered by federal agencies reflects a careful and considered balance of national law enforcement, foreign relations, and humanitarian concerns – concerns that belong to the nation as a whole, not a single state." That pointed to an additional practical argument: the law would result in federal authorities losing focus on their broader priorities to deal with an influx of deportations from Arizona. The Justice Department requested for the federal courts to enjoin enforcement of the law before it could go into effect. The suit did not argue that the law will lead to racial profiling, but department officials said they would continue to monitor that aspect if the measure went into effect.
A direct suit of a state by the federal government is rare, and the action held possible political consequences for the 2010 U.S. midterm elections as well. It was also seen as a pre-emptive measure to discourage other states considering similar laws from moving forward with them. Immediate reaction to the Justice Department's decision was highly split, with liberal groups hailing it but with Governor Brewer calling it "nothing more than a massive waste of taxpayer funds." Senators Kyl and McCain released a joint statement noting that "the American people must wonder whether the Obama Administration is really committed to securing the border when it sues a state that is simply trying to protect its people by enforcing immigration law." Representative Darrell Issa
Darrell Edward Issa ( ; born November 1, 1953) is an American businessman and politician who has served as the U.S. representative for California's 50th congressional district since 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served ...
, one of 19 Republicans to sign a letter criticizing the suit on the day that it was announced, said, "For President Obama to stand in the way of a state which has taken action to stand up for its citizens against the daily threat of violence and fear is disgraceful and a betrayal of his Constitutional obligation to protect our citizens." The federal action also led to a surge in contributions to the governor's defense fund for the law. By July 8, total donations were over $500,000, with the large majority of them being for $100 or less and coming from around the nation.
The Arizona Latino Republican Association became the first Latino organization to come out in support of SB 1070 and filed a motion to intervene against the Justice Department's lawsuit challenging it. An attempt in the US Senate to block funding for the Justice Department's lawsuit lost by a 55–43 vote that was mostly along party lines.
Initial hearings and rulings
Hearings on three of the seven lawsuits were held on July 15 and 22, 2010, before U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton. Bolton asked pointed questions of each side during both hearings but gave no indication of how or when she would rule.
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. They included requiring police to check the immigration status of those arrested or stopped, which the judge ruled would overwhelm the federal government handling of immigration cases and could mean that legal immigrants would be wrongly arrested. She wrote, "Federal resources will be taxed and diverted from federal enforcement priorities as a result of the increase in requests for immigration status determination that will flow from Arizona." Her ruling was not a final decision but was based on the belief that the Justice Department was likely to win a full later trial in federal court on these aspects. Bolton made no rulings in the other six lawsuits. Governor Brewer said that the injunction would be appealed, and on July 29, that was done in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts:
* District ...
in San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
. State Senator Pearce predicted that the legal battle would eventually end up in the Supreme Court and likely be upheld by a 5–4 margin.
Judge Bolton's ruling let a number of other aspects of the law take effect on July 29, including the ability to prevent state officials from maintaining " sanctuary city" policies and allowing civil suits against those policies, the mandating that state officials work with federal officials on matters related to undocumented immigration, and the prohibition of stopping a vehicle in traffic to pick up day laborers. Those parts of the law were challenged not by the Justice Department but by some of the other suits.
A three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit heard arguments in the appeal case on November 1, 2010, and it gave indications that it might reinstate but weaken parts of the law.
In February 2011, Arizona filed a countersuit against the federal government in the ''United States v. Arizona'' case, accusing it of failing to secure the Mexican border against large numbers of undocumented immigrants. Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne acknowledged that precedent surrounding sovereign immunity in the United States
In United States law, the federal government as well as state and tribal governments generally enjoy sovereign immunity, also known as governmental immunity, from lawsuits. Local governments in most jurisdictions enjoy immunity from some form ...
made the state's case difficult, but he said, "We're asking the 9th Circuit to take a second look."
On April 11, 2011, the Ninth Circuit panel upheld the district court's ban on parts of the law taking effect, thus ruling in favor of the Obama administration and against Arizona. Judge Richard Paez gave the majority opinion in which Judge John T. Noonan, Jr. joined; Judge Carlos Bea
Carlos Tiburcio Bea (born April 18, 1934) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He was appointed to that court by President George W. Bush in 2003 to replace Judge Charles Edward Wi ...
dissented in part. Paez agreed with the administration's view that the state had intruded upon federal prerogatives. Noonan wrote in his concurrence: "The Arizona statute before us has become a symbol. For those sympathetic to immigrants to the United States, it is a challenge and a chilling foretaste of what other states might attempt." On May 9, 2011, Governor Brewer announced that Arizona would appeal directly to the US Supreme Court, rather than request a hearing ''en banc
In law, an en banc session (; French for "in bench"; also known as ''in banc'', ''in banco'' or ''in bank'') is a session in which a case is heard before all the judges of a court (before the entire bench) rather than by one judge or a smaller p ...
'' before the Ninth Circuit. That appeal was filed on August 10, 2011. In response, the Justice Department requested for the Supreme Court to stay out of the case and said that the lower courts' actions were appropriate. Observers thought it likely that the Supreme Court would take up the matter, but if it declined to step in, the case most likely would be returned to the trial judge in the District Court to review the case on its merits and determine whether the temporary injunction that blocked the law's most controversial provisions should become permanent. The Supreme Court announced in December 2011 that it had granted a petition for writ of certiorari, and oral arguments took place on April 25, 2012.
Bolton's court continued to oversee the other lawsuits; by early 2012 three of the seven were still active. On February 29, 2012, Bolton ruled in favor of an action led by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and blocked provisions of the law that allowed for the arrest of day workers who block traffic in an effort to gain employment.
US Supreme Court ruling
On June 25, 2012, the US Supreme Court issued a ruling in the case ''Arizona v. United States
''Arizona v. United States'', 567 U.S. 387 (2012), was a Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court case involving Arizona's Arizona SB 1070, SB 1070, a state law intended to increase the powers of local law enforcement that w ...
''. It determined, by a 5–3 majority, with Justice Anthony Kennedy
Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirement in 2018. He was nominated to the court in 1987 by Presid ...
writing the opinion, that Sections 3, 5(C), and 6 of SB 1070 were pre-empted by federal law. Those sections make it a state misdemeanor for an immigrant not to be carrying documentation of lawful presence in the country, allow state police to arrest without a warrant in some situations, and make it unlawful under state law for an individual to apply for employment without federal work authorization. All of the justices agreed to uphold the portion of the law allowing Arizona state police to investigate the immigration status of an individual stopped, detained, or arrested if there is reasonable suspicion that individual is in the country unlawfully. However, Justice Kennedy specified in the majority opinion that state police may not detain the individual for a prolonged amount of time for not carrying immigration documents and that cases based upon allegations of racial profiling may proceed through the courts if such cases happen later.
Justice Scalia dissented and said that he would have upheld the entire law. Justice Thomas likewise stated that he would have upheld the entire law and that it was not pre-empted by federal law. Justice Alito agreed with Justices Scalia and Thomas on Sections 5(C) and 6 but joined with the majority in finding Section 3 pre-empted.
Further rulings and challenges
On September 5, 2012, Judge Bolton cleared the way for police to carry out the 2010 law's requirement that officers, while enforcing other laws, may question the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country unlawfully. She said that the Supreme Court had clearly stated that the provision "cannot be challenged further on its face before the law takes effect," but that constitutionality challenges on other grounds could take place in the future. Later that month, the first arrest received some news attention. In November 2013, the ACLU filed the first legal challenge to this provision.
See also
* Chandler Roundup
* Illegal immigration in the United States
Illegal immigration to the United States is the process of migrating into the United States in violation of federal immigration laws. This can include foreign nationals (aliens) who have entered the United States unlawfully, as well as thos ...
* Mississippi SB 2179
* Special Order 40
* Texas Senate Bill 4
* Trail of Tears
The Trail of Tears was an ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the " Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government. As part of the Indian removal, members of the Cherokee, ...
Citations
General references
*
*
External links
Documents for SB 1070 at the Arizona State Legislature
Documents for HB 2162 at the Arizona State Legislature
SB1070 as amended by HB 2162 (combined version), unofficial but provided by Arizona State Legislature
House Engrossed Senate Bill SB 1070, as enacted
Arizona Governor website
Conference engrossed Bill HB 2162 Amending SB 1070, as enacted
Arizona Governor website
* Gabriel J. Chin, Carissa Byrne Hessick, Toni Massaro & Marc Miller,
''Arizona Senate Bill 1070: A Preliminary Report''
Social Science Research Network
The Social Science Research Network (SSRN) is a repository for preprints devoted to the rapid dissemination of scholarly research in the social sciences, humanities, life sciences, and health sciences, among others. Elsevier bought SSRN from S ...
* Tito Rodriguez
''Governor Jan Brewer Signs (SB 1070) Toughest Illegal Immigration Law in the U.S.''
Mexican-American.org (4/23/10)
* Keith Gaddie and Kelly Damphousse (eds.), ''Social Science Quarterly'' virtual issue
Fact sheet for S.B. 1070
Hoja de resumen para la S.B. 1070
''Arizona, et al. v. United States'' U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments transcript
an
audio
''Arizona v. United States'' Audio Book
Bookmarkable .m4b audio book of the arguments in ''Arizona v. United States''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arizona Sb1070
2010 in American law
2010 in Arizona
Arizona statutes
Illegal immigration to the United States
Immigration legislation
Race and law in the United States
United States immigration law