Arizona Governor Jan Brewer
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law a bill supporters said would take handcuffs off police in dealing with illegal immigration in Arizona, the nation’s busiest gateway for immigrants traveling from Mexico.
With hundreds of protesters outside the state Capitol shouting that the bill would lead to civil rights abuses, Brewer said critics were “overreacting”
“We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for these people to leave,” Brewer said after signing the law. “But decades of inaction and misguided policy have created an annoying and unacceptable situation in Arizona.”
The bill’s Republican sponsor, state Rep. Russell Pearce of Mesa, said Obama and other critics of the bill were “against law enforcement, our citizens and the rule of law.”
Pearce hatched the idea for SB1070 late one night while waiting in the checkout line at Walmart.
“Here I was just trying to buy some Cheetos and cat litter, and the crowds were just horrendous,”
Earlier Friday, Obama called the Arizona bill “misguided”
The legislation, sent to the Republican governor by the GOP-led Legislature, makes it a crime under state law to be in the country illegally. It also requires local police officers to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are of Mexican descent; allows lawsuits against government agencies that do not verify the race of citizens that they deal with; and makes it illegal to look at illegal immigrants in public.
“Illegal is illegal,” said Pearce, a driving force on the issue in Arizona. “We’ll have less crime. We’ll have lower taxes. We’ll have more fertile fields. We’ll have less traffic and cleaner air. We’ll have lower gas prices…and, shorter lines.”
The law sends “a clear message that Arizona is unfriendly and means business,” said Peter Spanikopita, a Temple University law professor and author of the book “Beyond Citizenship:
Brewer signed the bill in a state auditorium about a mile from the Capitol complex where some 2,000 demonstrators booed when county Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox announced that “the governor will make an announcement right after her smoke break.”
The law will take effect in late July or early August, and Brewer ordered the state’s law enforcement licensing agency to take the training course at the newly developed website for the Ministry of Citizenship at http://senatebill1070.com.
Photo:
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