District Court Temporarily Halts SB 1070

The United States District Court issued a preliminary injunction today that prohibits certain aspects of Senate Bill 1070 – Arizona’s controversial immigration law – from becoming law in Arizona. SB 1070 is scheduled to go into effect on July 29, 2010, but the preliminary injunction issued on July 28, 2010 halted the following key portions of the law:

• The portion of the law that requires an officer make a reasonable attempt to determine the immigration status of a person stopped, detained or arrested if there’s reasonable suspicion they’re in the country illegally.

• The portion that creates a crime of failure to apply for or carry “alien-registration papers.”

• The portion that makes it a crime for illegal immigrants to solicit, apply for, or perform work (i.e. does not include the section on day laborers).

• The portion that allows for a warrantless arrest of a person where there is probable cause to believe they have committed a public offense that makes them removable from the United States.

Senate Bill 1070 was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer in April. It made it a state crime to be in the country illegally and stated that an officer engaged in a lawful stop, detention or arrest shall, when practicable, ask about a person’s legal status when reasonable suspicion exists that the person is in the United States illegally.

The preliminary injunction on SB 1070 is just that – temporary. For now, the District Court says, “The balance of equities tips in the United States’ favor considering the public interest.” Senator Russell Pearce, a conservative and author of SB 1070, was not too concerned with the injuction. Pearce stated, “We will appeal this immediately and we will win on appeal. This will be to the Supreme Court eventually, and I expect a 5-4 decision in our favor, perhaps even 6-3.”

Regardless if SB 1070 becomes law or not, the issue is receiving the attention it deserves. Most agree that illegal immigration is a problem and that reform is necessary. Whether SB 1070 is the “right” reform for Arizona is still to be determined. But the attention SB 1070 has created puts pressure on the federal government to finally take action. And that is why SB 1070 is good for Arizona and the country. Not the bill itself, but the attention it has created. Now it’s time for the federal government to legislate illegal immigration and Arizona to stop meddling in federal issues.