Arizona SB 1070, more commonly known as the Arizona Immigration Bill, though widely supported by a majority of Arizonans and Americans, is neither legal nor right.
The poorly thought out bill has been subject to several lawsuits against its constitutionality since its passing. This includes a lawsuit from the Department of Justice. The bill is so unconstitutional that it is probably easier to list off what parts of the constitution it doesn’t violate, rather than the parts it does.
For one, there is the very pressing matter that the bill violates the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. Essentially, during the writing of the Constitution, the states were not directly given the delegated power to regulate immigration, so the power was left to the federal government.
The federal government did not pass a comprehensive immigration law until 1891 and did not set the restrictive quota laws until 1921, in response to World War I. States can only regulate immigration by the means that national law currently establishes. A national law which does, in fact, call for the deportation of known illegal residents.
The problem with the current law is that for decades it has been under-funded and thus not implemented. Thankfully, President Obama recently signed a bill, increasing the amount of funding to the border. Border security forces along the American Southwest will be given $600 million. This will better allow states to defend their borders.
Arizona’s bill essentially over-stretches its police officers by requiring stricter immigration enforcement, which is challenging to perform without profiling.
Based on the federal government’s lawsuit, the judge ruling over the hearing filed an injunction to stop the Arizona bill from being implemented. This was due to the possibility of American citizens or residents being unlawfully arrested, as a result of the confusing and overly strict parts of the bill.
The bill violates the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. It would limit freedom of speech, as the act of speech itself could lead to suspicion over one’s legal status. This would seriously negatively affect legal immigrants.
The bill also violates the ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. Law enforcement would be allowed to search one’s belongings without a warrant. The only requisite is a reasonable suspicion that one is an illegal immigrant.
Furthermore, the bill violates the equal protection clause by encouraging the detention and checking of racial minorities. The adherence to the due process clause is also in question because this is such a vague and hard law to implement.
It is sad that such an unfortunate bill has been passed in the United States in the 21st century. As Democrats and Republicans debate the best way to protect the American border and respond to the issue of illegal immigration, a bunch of misfit lawmakers in Arizona essentially got fed up.
The response of the Arizona lawmakers is akin to a college student deciding to use Sparknotes on an essay for a book he or she didn’t read because he or she was tired from having taken two tests just that morning.
As a Texan, I really do understand how frustrated Arizonans must feel about illegal immigration, but the bill passed was definitely not the solution. However, I don’t believe that a similar bill would pass in Texas, New Mexico or California. These three states have a greater Hispanic population both at large and in state legislatures than Arizona. Therefore, the backlash would be much greater.
While the Arizonan bill has helped Republican Governor Jan Brewer’s reelection numbers overall, Republican support amongst Hispanic voters has sunk to disturbingly low levels in Arizona. Hispanics have registered with the Arizona Democratic Party in record numbers.
Given that Hispanics will soon be a majority ethnic group in the American southwest, bills like this are not politically smart for the Republican Party in the long term. The Republican Party cannot afford to alienate Hispanic voters, like they have with African-American voters.
The Republican Party created and endorsed Prop 187 in California, passed in 1994, which denied illegal residents access to public education and health care.
This measure has destroyed the California Republican Party’s reputation amongst Hispanics and Asians, Once Hispanics grow to California levels in Arizona, the Arizona Republican Party could be in very serious trouble, unless they moderate their views to established rule of law.
David de la Fuente is a junior sociology and political science major. He is also the President of College Democrats. De la Fuente can be reached for questions or comments at [email protected] Democrats meets every Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. in Hughes-Trigg Atrium C-D.