The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders Legal Defense Fund - which represents 30,000 evangelical churches nationwide - as well as MALDEF, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), are preparing federal lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of SB 1070.
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles called the ability of officials to demand documents akin to "Nazism."
Former Arizona Senate majority leader Alfredo Gutierrez said, "This is the most oppressive piece of legislation since the Japanese internment camp act" during World War II.
Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, D-Arizona, called
for a convention boycott of Arizona. The American Immigration Lawyers
Association (AILA) complied. AILA is moving its fall 2010 conference,
scheduled for Arizona, to another state.
Even though SB 1070 will not take effect for at least 90 days,
undocumented immigrants in Arizona are terrorized by the new law. A man
in Mesa, Arizona, looked around nervously as he stood on a street
corner waiting for work.
"We shop in their stores, we clean their
yards, but they want us out and the police will be on us," Eric
Ramirez told the New York Times.
Ironically, expelling unauthorized immigrants from Arizona would be
costly. The Perryman Group calculated that Arizona would lose $26.4
billion in economic activity, $11.7 billion in gross state product,
and approximately 140,324 jobs if all undocumented people were removed
from the state.
"This bill does nothing to address human smuggling, the drug cartels,
the arms smuggling," said Democratic Sen. Rebecca Rios. "And, yes, I
believe it will create somewhat of a police state."
"Police in Arizona already treat migrants
worse than animals," said Francisco Loureiro, an immigration activist
who runs a shelter in Nogales, Mexico. "There is already a hunt for
migrants, and now it will be open season under the cover of a law."
SB 1070 is the latest, albeit one of the worst, racist attacks on
undocumented immigrants. The federal program called 287(g) allows
certain state and local law enforcement agencies to engage in federal
immigration enforcement activities.
But a report released earlier this month
by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector
General found a lack of oversight and training without adequate
safeguards against racial profiling.
We can expect SB 1070 to be replicated around the country as the ugly
wave of immigrant-bashing continues. Lawmakers from four other states
have sought advice from Michael Hethmon, general counsel for the
Immigration Reform Law Institute, who helped draft the Arizona law.
"SB 1070 is tearing our state into two," said Phoenix Mayor Phil
Gordon, who called the bill "bitter, small-minded and full of hate." He
thinks "it humiliates us in the eyes of America and threatens our
economic recovery."
More than 50,000 people signed petitions
opposing SB 1070 and 2,500 students from high schools across Phoenix
walked out of school and marched to the state Capitol to protest the
bill before it passed. On Sunday, about 3,500 people gathered at the
Capitol, chanting, "Yes we can," "We have rights," and "We are human."
President Obama criticized SB 1070 as "misguided," saying it will
"undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as
well as the trust between police and our communities that is so crucial
to keeping us safe." He called on Congress to enact federal
immigration reform.
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