Two Lawsuits Challenge Arizona Immigration Law
Anger mounted Thursday over an Arizona state law cracking down on illegal immigration as a police officer filed one of the first lawsuits challenging the law and activists gathered outside an Arizona Diamondbacks game at Wrigley Field in Chicago, chanting "Boycott Arizona."
The lawsuit from 15-year Tucson police veteran Martin Escobar is one of two filed Thursday, less than a week after Republican Gov. Jan Brewer signed the law that has sparked fears it will lead to racial profiling despite the governor's vow that officers will be properly trained.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said the federal government may challenge the law, which requires local and state law enforcement to question people about their immigration status if there's reason to suspect they're in America illegally, and makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally.
Escobar, an overnight patrol officer in a heavily Latino area of Tucson, argues there's no way for officers to confirm people's immigration status without impeding investigations, and that the new law violates numerous U.S. constitutional rights.
Tucson police spokesman Sgt. Fabian Pacheco said Escobar is acting on his own, not on behalf of the department.
The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders also filed a lawsuit Thursday, and is seeking an injunction preventing authorities from enforcing the law. The group argues federal law pre-empts state regulation of national borders, and that Arizona's law violates due process rights by letting police detain suspected illegal immigrants before they're convicted.
"Mexican-Americans are not going to take this lying down," singer Linda Ronstadt, a Tucson native, said at a state Capitol news conference on another lawsuit planned by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the National Immigration Law Center.
Photos: Immigration Protests
At least three Arizona cities - Phoenix, Flagstaff and Tucson - are considering legal action to block the law. In Flagstaff, police are investigating a threatening e-mail sent to members of the city council over their opposition to the law. The author said council members should be "arrested, tried in court, found guilty of treason and hanged from the nearest tree!"
About 40 immigrant rights activists gathered outside Wrigley Field in Chicago on Thursday as the Cubs open a four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team. A small plane toting a banner criticizing the law circled the stadium, and activist George Lieu said they've sent a letter to Cubs management asking them to stop holding spring training in Arizona.
A Cubs spokesman declined to comment. Arizona Diamondbacks manager A.J. Hinch says the team is just there to play baseball.
Arizona Immigration Boycott Zeroes in on Baseball
On Wednesday, a group filed papers to launch a referendum drive that could put the law on hold until 2012, when voters could decide whether it is repealed.
The legislation's chief sponsor, Republican Rep. Russell Pearce, said he has no doubt voters will support the new law at the ballot box, which would then protect it from repeal by the Legislature. In Arizona, measures approved by voters can only be repealed at the ballot box.
Meanwhile, the effect of the law continued to ripple beyond Arizona.
A group of conservative state lawmakers in Oklahoma are considering pushing a bill similar to Arizona's. In Texas, Rep. Debbie Riddle, a Republican, said she will introduce a measure similar to the Arizona law in the January legislative session. And Republicans running for governor in Colorado and Minnesota expressed support for the crackdown. "I'd do something very similar" if elected," Former Rep. Scott McInnis, told KHOW-AM radio in Denver.
Will Other States Follow Arizona's Lead on Immigration?
The Denver Public Schools system is banning work-related travel to Arizona. Even though school employees are in the country legally, DPS spokesman Kristy Armstrong said officials don't want them to be "subjected to that kind of scrutiny and search."
More City Councils Move Toward Arizona Boycotts
Retired South African archbishop Desmond Tutu also chimed in, saying he supports the idea of a boycott of Arizona businesses, according to a letter he wrote that was posted Wednesday on TheCommunity.com, a website for Nobel peace laureates that promotes peace and human rights.
"I recognize that Arizona has become a widening entry point for illegal immigration from the South ... but a solution that degrades innocent people, or that makes anyone with broken English a suspect, is not a solution," Tutu said.
Colombian singer Shakira planned to visit Phoenix on Thursday to meet with the city's police chief and mayor over her concerns that the law would lead to racial profiling.
More Coverage of the Immigration Debate:
Boehner: "Not a Chance" Immigration Reform will Pass this Year
Illegal Immigrants Leaving Arizona Over New Law
Obama: Congress May Not Tackle Immigration Soon
Fury over Immigrant Law
Politics of Immigration Reform
Boycott Arizona Iced Tea? Wait a Second...
AP The lawsuit from 15-year Tucson police veteran Martin Escobar is one of two filed Thursday, less than a week after Republican Gov. Jan Brewer signed the law that has sparked fears it will lead to racial profiling despite the governor's vow that officers will be properly trained.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said the federal government may challenge the law, which requires local and state law enforcement to question people about their immigration status if there's reason to suspect they're in America illegally, and makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally.
Escobar, an overnight patrol officer in a heavily Latino area of Tucson, argues there's no way for officers to confirm people's immigration status without impeding investigations, and that the new law violates numerous U.S. constitutional rights.
Tucson police spokesman Sgt. Fabian Pacheco said Escobar is acting on his own, not on behalf of the department.
The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders also filed a lawsuit Thursday, and is seeking an injunction preventing authorities from enforcing the law. The group argues federal law pre-empts state regulation of national borders, and that Arizona's law violates due process rights by letting police detain suspected illegal immigrants before they're convicted.
"Mexican-Americans are not going to take this lying down," singer Linda Ronstadt, a Tucson native, said at a state Capitol news conference on another lawsuit planned by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the National Immigration Law Center.
Photos: Immigration Protests
At least three Arizona cities - Phoenix, Flagstaff and Tucson - are considering legal action to block the law. In Flagstaff, police are investigating a threatening e-mail sent to members of the city council over their opposition to the law. The author said council members should be "arrested, tried in court, found guilty of treason and hanged from the nearest tree!"
About 40 immigrant rights activists gathered outside Wrigley Field in Chicago on Thursday as the Cubs open a four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team. A small plane toting a banner criticizing the law circled the stadium, and activist George Lieu said they've sent a letter to Cubs management asking them to stop holding spring training in Arizona.
A Cubs spokesman declined to comment. Arizona Diamondbacks manager A.J. Hinch says the team is just there to play baseball.
Arizona Immigration Boycott Zeroes in on Baseball
On Wednesday, a group filed papers to launch a referendum drive that could put the law on hold until 2012, when voters could decide whether it is repealed.
The legislation's chief sponsor, Republican Rep. Russell Pearce, said he has no doubt voters will support the new law at the ballot box, which would then protect it from repeal by the Legislature. In Arizona, measures approved by voters can only be repealed at the ballot box.
Meanwhile, the effect of the law continued to ripple beyond Arizona.
A group of conservative state lawmakers in Oklahoma are considering pushing a bill similar to Arizona's. In Texas, Rep. Debbie Riddle, a Republican, said she will introduce a measure similar to the Arizona law in the January legislative session. And Republicans running for governor in Colorado and Minnesota expressed support for the crackdown. "I'd do something very similar" if elected," Former Rep. Scott McInnis, told KHOW-AM radio in Denver.
Will Other States Follow Arizona's Lead on Immigration?
The Denver Public Schools system is banning work-related travel to Arizona. Even though school employees are in the country legally, DPS spokesman Kristy Armstrong said officials don't want them to be "subjected to that kind of scrutiny and search."
More City Councils Move Toward Arizona Boycotts
Retired South African archbishop Desmond Tutu also chimed in, saying he supports the idea of a boycott of Arizona businesses, according to a letter he wrote that was posted Wednesday on TheCommunity.com, a website for Nobel peace laureates that promotes peace and human rights.
"I recognize that Arizona has become a widening entry point for illegal immigration from the South ... but a solution that degrades innocent people, or that makes anyone with broken English a suspect, is not a solution," Tutu said.
Colombian singer Shakira planned to visit Phoenix on Thursday to meet with the city's police chief and mayor over her concerns that the law would lead to racial profiling.
More Coverage of the Immigration Debate:
Boehner: "Not a Chance" Immigration Reform will Pass this Year
Illegal Immigrants Leaving Arizona Over New Law
Obama: Congress May Not Tackle Immigration Soon
Fury over Immigrant Law
Politics of Immigration Reform
Boycott Arizona Iced Tea? Wait a Second...
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But over the decades, your government starts ignoring the laws on the book concerning who gets to be inside their borders legally and instead panders to the corporate contributions being deposited into their bank accounts. And what if eventually the immigrant workers decide not to abide to the law of the land and not leave after their visa has expired once they realize no one is pursuing their infractions of the law in this foreign country they work in.
So your government, run by two influential parties that constantly fight each others agenda just to further their own perceptions of what a future America is going to be like that hopefully will benefit their party the most, does nothing to enforce its own laws on the federal books despite the constant clamor over the decades from the citizens of the country that elected them into office in the first place.
Lets pretend that on TWO previous occasions a President of this country (one from each party) gave amnesty to over ten million people each time with the promise to it's citizens that "IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN!" (1976-Carter..1986-Reagan)
But over the years the enforcement of these laws erode away despite your constant screaming voice to your elected representative in a futile attempt since 'THEY' have no need to patronize you anymore now that they are now in office. They are instead influenced by the mega billion dollar corporate empires that are throwing millions of dollars at EACH party to make sure their agenda is priority over the voters. No matter WHO gets elected into office, their corporate agenda will be perpetrated.
Now picture this, the only time your elected official wants to hear from you is when they are up for reelection the upcoming year, and suddenly this person has changed for the better and is now your best friend and "Understands Your Concerns" ...promising to vote the way you want them to once in office. After a few years of disappointment and no change from who you elected, a representative from the other party is elected into the office of your district and nothing changes once again! The people of this country start to realize over time that there's still a robber at their door! Even though they may have a different mask on, the results are the same!
Picture once again that this whole country is represented by every nationality and race of the world we live in. A country in which for hundreds of years there was a line of smiling faces waiting to become a member of this society willing to put in whatever it may take to become a viable asset and give a contribution to this growing country all in the legal way!
But when the situation arises of an illegal alien invasion on this sovereign nations border that is perpetrated by many different countries all using the same easy unsecured entrance into said country, the opposition singles out the fact that it's a racial issue. Even though this country is more diverse than any country in the world with all colors and races represented, a certain race is singled out as racist when they ask the elected officials to enforce the previous amnesty laws that were pushed onto the voting citizens of this country on many occasions before. The fact is ignored that every race in this country is represented in the outcry of opposition to this new amnesty, but in fact they single out the majority race as the obstacle to their infiltrating agenda!
We NEED to vote out every career politician from office NOW! It's not 1840 anymore and Washington isn't a 6 week ride away! We can speak for ourselves! Vote in someone completely new that listens to what we want!
Copy/Paste everywhere if you agree-Eddiespaghetti007
Why can't the AMERICAN people have their own country? Yes-this is the land of opportunity-I believed for Americans as our people fought in wars, protested to make life better for AMERICANS, paid taxes and -oh yeah, paid bail out money--etc, etc, etc.
I just don't know why we can't have our own country. THIS IS REALLY GETTING OLD!
GO ARIZONA. Hey Gov. Brewer-can Inidana have you as governor also?
I DON'T THINK THIS LAWSUIT WILL FLY. IF I WAS SMOKING POT AND IT WAS STREAMING OUT MY CAR WINDOW, AND WAS WEAVING ALL OVER THE ROAD AND "FORGOT TO BRING MY DRIVER'S LICENSE" AND THE POLICE STOPPED ME; DO YOU THINK THEY WOULD JUST LET ME GO? NO! THEY WOULD "DETAIN" ME, UNTIL I WAS ABLE TO IDENTIFY MYSELF. ONCE DONE, THE CHARGES WOULD BE LEVIED.
THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE ARIZONA LAW. IT COMPLIES WITH FEDERAL LAW, WHILE ALLOWING LOCAL POLICE TO CALL THE FEDS ON THOSE "UNIDENTIFIED" SUBJECTS, WHO FAIL TO PRESENT A PASSPORT, VISA, OR DRIVER'S LICENSE.
However, I do feel that the law or bill is heading in the correct direction. I feel that illegal immigrants have more/less overtaken many of the communities within range of the borders, as well as further North and there needs to be a stop or a control to that. There are many reasons why having illegal immigrants in this country are good, but there are just as many negatives. You have the young girls that are having babies just so their kids are considered citizens, and then all of our tax dollars(IE: Food Stamps, Healthcare, Abortions, Welfare, etc...) go towards raising/helping the illegal families that live in this country! That is absolutely ridiculous! Our tax dollars are also spent on the extra security (Police) it takes to govern all of these extra people. I am not judging "Illegals" as bad people because nobody should question them as humans, however I am saying that the concept of illegal alien's invading our country without recourse is not alright with me. Yes they help our economy, but they help their families (back in Mexico and other areas) just as much! They are siphoning plenty of money out of our economy as well as a very significant amount of our tax dollars.
Please dont mistake me for ignorant, because I'm not. I am a realist who simply believes that this country is in a lot of trouble! Here's an example; my mother who has worked her entire life, paid well over $500,000 in taxes, and has been an outstanding citizen in her community...AND SHE DOES NOT HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE!!! I paid a little over $41,000(36% of total earnings) in taxes last year and my mother does not have heath insurance. So my questions is this...I can pay boatloads of my income in taxes to support someone who illegally came into this country, yet my mother who has paid her dues to society cannot get health coverage?
That is what I mean by this bill is a "start" in the right direction...
I hope this sheds a little light. And believe it or not I lean/voted Democrat. Haha, little joke in there for the politically inclined.
Way to go Arizona!!!!! Most citizens of the United States support you 100%.
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Source?
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Says quite a bit.....