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The Debate over Arizona’s New Immigration Law
04/28/10
On April 23, 2010, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed the nation’s most stringent bill on illegal immigration into law. The Republican governor’s decision to sign the measure pleased the state’s Republican-controlled legislature, which crafted the bill, as well as many Arizonans frustrated by years of federal inaction on illegal immigration. But Brewer’s signature also triggered an avalanche of condemnation from critics who characterized the bill as a racist measure that bore more than a passing resemblance to the police-state policies of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
Arizona’s new law has several major provisions. It requires police officers, “when practicable,” to detain anyone they “reasonably suspect” of being an illegal immigrant. It also requires people in the state to carry documentation proving that they have a legal right to be in the United States, and it enables citizens to file lawsuits against local government or agencies if they believe state or federal immigration laws are not being enforced.
Defenders of the new law say that it will reduce the flow of undocumented Mexicans into the border state and help authorities root out illegal immigrants already in Arizona. “Illegal is illegal,” declared Russell Pearce, a conservative state legislator and chief sponsor of the bill. “We’ll have less crime. We’ll have lower taxes. We’ll have safer neighborhoods. We’ll have shorter lines in the emergency rooms. We’ll have smaller classrooms.” Opponents like Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson, though, have described the law as “an abomination—racist, arbitrary, oppressive, mean-spirited, unjust,” and “a mandate for racial profiling on a massive scale.”
The signing of the law sparked protests across Arizona and elicited criticism from President Barack Obama. Both advocates and detractors of the law agree that its passage is likely to make immigration reform a top priority in Washington, D.C. in the months ahead.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Do you support the major provisions of Arizona’s new immigration law? Why or why not?
- Do you think this measure will help reduce illegal immigration to Arizona?
- Do you believe that reducing illegal immigration is important enough to risk violating the civil liberties of the state’s large Hispanic population?
- In the past, immigration policy has typically been the domain of the federal government. Some federal officials have questioned the constitutionality of the Arizona law on the grounds that it overreaches state authority. Yet Arizona Senator John McCain and others have claimed that the state was forced to take action in the face of federal inaction. How would you resolve this issue of states’ rights vs. federal authority?