Arizona immigration law stirs controversy
Published: Friday, May 7, 2010
Updated: Friday, May 7, 2010
Photo Illustration by Matt Binter
Immigration has been a contentious issue for a considerable time in the United States. A new law in Arizona appears to have stoked enough controversy to continue this tradition.
On April 23, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act into law. The act, passed as Senate Bill 1070, includes many provisions aimed at enforcing the state’s immigration laws. The act is set to go into effect on July 28.
One of the more notable provisions of the act calls for a legitimate attempt to be made to determine immigration status of a person in contact with governmental authorities if a “reasonable suspicion” exists that the person is an illegal immigrant.
Colin Curtis, sophomore in political science and state president of the Kansas Young Democrats, said this provision opens the door for racial profiling.
“It legalizes it,” he said. “This puts any minority, immigrant or not, at risk for something as minor as being without their driver’s license.”
Additionally, being in the state illegally would be a violation of state law. The violation would be classified anywhere between a class one misdemeanor to a class four felony based on the nature of the violation.
The law will also make employing illegal immigrants and transporting them anywhere illegal.
Another provision of the act allows citizens to sue their local government if they feel the law is not being adequately enforced.
Whether the act is constitutional has been continuously questioned since it was signed into law. Kris Kobach, a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and candidate for Secretary of State in Kansas, helped craft the act