Obama Administration to End Fight Against Portion of Arizona Immigration Bill?
The Obama Administration said Wednesday that it is willing to drop the court challenge against a controversial section of Arizona's stringent immigration bill in exchange for Arizona's compliance in accommodating undocumented immigrants.
The White House will consider dropping its fight against a portion of SB 1070, an Arizona immigration law that was passed in 2010 that requires police to question the immigration status of people suspected to be in the country illegally. The White House will consider ending the challenge against the portion of the bill, which is considered to permit racial profiling of Hispanics in the state, according to SiliconIndia.
The bill orders immigrants to carry all alien registration documents at all times, and requires police to question people if they suspect they are in the state illegally, giving police free reign to stop people of Latino descent at any time and demand documentation. The law also cracks down on businesses that hire undocumented immigrant workers.
The agreement between Arizona Republican Gov. Jan Brewer and the Justice Department will allow the judge to strike out the portion of the law that allows police to randomly stop people of Latino heritage. Arizona will then be forced to accommodate undocumented immigrants and eliminate the portion of SB 1070 that prohibits the state from harboring such immigrants.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the controversial section of the law that allows for police questioning of Latinos, but rejected the part of the law that requires immigrants to carry registration papers at all times.
The court also blocked other sections of the law. One law that would still be contested in court will be an amendment to a 2005 immigrant smuggling law.
Two of six other challenges to SB 1070 will also remain in effect, according to The Associated Press.
Karen Tumlin, an attorney who represents civil rights groups, told The Associated Press that the court challenge may continue, despite the agreement between Brewer and the Obama administration.
"There needs to be clarity that the Arizonans cannot be illegally detained based on their suspected immigration status," Tumlin said.
The questionable legality of border patrol stops by the Department of Homeland Security was also brought to court, with civil rights groups arguing that the interrogation of undocumented immigrants within the U.S. violates civil liberties. American Civil Liberties Union Arizona and two law professors from the University of Arizona brought the lawsuit to the DHS for a delay in information that was requested pertaining to border patrol enforcement regulations by the Border Protection Division.
The lawsuit was first waged in January, then again in April. The ACLU contends that the DHS ignored requests for information.
"It's outrageous that the leaders of the nation's largest law enforcement agency think that they can simply ignore lawful requests for public information. For Border Patrol to be held accountable they have to be transparent. But the agency consistently refuses to share basic information with the American people while rights violations are rampant", attorney James Lyall of the ACLU's Border Litigation Project said in a statement.
While Border Patrol has denied allegations of racial profiling, the ACLU claims they have records and witnesses of profiling due to a person's ethnic heritage.
The ACLU says they documented civil liberties violations at checkpoints, including evidence of unlawful vehicle stops and searches, use of force, destruction of private property and racial profiling.
"We shouldn't have to go as far as filing a lawsuit to get these records," Professor Derek Bambauer told SiliconIndia. "This is public information about a matter of pressing public concern. We cannot allow DHS and Border Patrol to continue operating in our communities without being subject to public scrutiny."
The ACLU initially requested that the investigation of reports at border checkpoints be made available to the public, as it has been five years since the federal government demanded a review of the impact federal checkpoints have on communities at the border.
The ACLU also sued the South Tucson Police Department over the allegedly unlawful detention of a man who was then turned over to Border Patrol. The ACLU charged false arrest and unreasonable search and seizure.
The battle over immigration policy also came to a head Monday when Gov. Jan Brewer urged President Obama to stop releasing hundreds of immigrants at bus stations in Tucson and Phoenix due to a law that allows the federal government to transport undocumented immigrants to other areas for processing, The Arizona Daily Star reports.
Women and children who did not pose a security risk are released at the stations due to limited space, and are required to report to a local Immigrations and Customs Enforcement office within 15 days.
Brewer called the policy "dangerous and unconscionable," claiming the DHS released immigrants without food or other important necessities. She also slammed the Obama administration for failing to secure the border.