UPDATE 2-Demos as gutted Arizona immigration law takes effect
* Demonstrators block street, at least 45 arrests
* Ruling seen slowing states mulling copycat laws
* Sheriff pushes ahead with crime and immigration sweep (Recasts with Arizona appeal, update protester arrests)
By Carolina Madrid and Tim Gaynor
PHOENIX, July 29 (Reuters) - Arizona on Thursday appealed a judge's decision to block key parts of the state's crackdown on illegal immigrants and police in Phoenix arrested scores of activists protesting the remaining measures in the law.
Lawyers for Governor Jan Brewer and Arizona asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to lift an injunction blocking the most intrusive parts of the law, known as SB 1070, and asked for the appeal to be handled quickly.
Tensions over the law have inflamed a national debate over immigration, which has festered for decades and promises to play into the elections in November, when President Barack Obama's Democrats are fighting to retain control of Congress.
U.S. District Court judge Susan Bolton on Wednesday blocked the law's most controversial elements arguing that immigration matters are the federal government's responsibility.
The law had drawn wide popular support in this state bordering Mexico and across the United States as a whole, but was opposed by President Barack Obama and human rights groups.
Brewer issued a statement saying she had filed the appeal, asking that the suspended provisions "go into effect pending a decision on the merits of this case." The case was widely expected to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Republican-controlled state legislature passed the law three months ago to try to drive nearly half a million illegal immigrants out of Arizona, and stem the flow of human and drug smugglers over the border from Mexico.
Several hundred Hispanic and labor activists, delighted by Wednesday's last minute ruling, pushed ahead with rallies in central Phoenix, chanting and banging drums in protest at parts of the law that came into effect on Thursday.
ARRESTED AT PROTEST
Police arrested at least 45 protesters after they blocked streets near a sheriff's office in the city center and the entrance to a jail.
A Reuters witness saw police dressed in riot gear arrest demonstrators, including an elderly woman church minister. The protesters offered no resistance and police led them away in plastic handcuffs.
"We welcome the fact that the judge blocked some of the provisions in SB 1070 but ... we are continuing action to overturn the rest of the law, " said Pablo Alvarado, executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.
"Today is going to be worse that yesterday because there will be more laws on the books, more tools for cops," he said.
Blocked provisions included one requiring a police officer to check the immigration status of anyone stopped or detained if the officer believed they were not in the country legally.
Immigrants would also have been required to carry their documents at all times and undocumented workers would have been forbidden to solicit work in public.
Measures not subject to the stay, and which went into effect on Thursday, included offenses making it illegal for drivers to pick up day laborers from the street and to transport or harbor an illegal immigrant.
COPYCAT LAWS
The law triggered interest in copycat measures in as many as 20 other states around the country. But analysts said Bolton's ruling on Wednesday would "at least hit the pause button" for some Republicans mulling their own measures..
"If the Supreme Court upholds the injunction that will most likely put a real damper on any potential legislation," said Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University in Texas.
The law is popular with a majority of Americans and 65 percent of Arizona voters, although opponents charge it is unconstitutional and would lead to discrimination against Latinos, and Latino-looking Americans.
Scores of day laborers set out to seek work at informal day labor sites in Phoenix, despite the new provisions.
"We're not criminals, we're not hurting anyone ... We wish people would know that," said Franco Escamilla, an undocumented laborer from Mexico said as he waited outside a Home Depot store in Phoenix.
A sheriff known for his tough approach to illegal immigrants in the Phoenix area, pushed ahead with a crime and immigration sweep in as planned on Thursday.
"Nothing is going to deter the sheriff and my office, including rulings of a federal judge," Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said. "It's business as normal."
About 10 protesters were arrested in Los Angeles after they chained themselves together in the middle of a busy intersection during a demonstration over the Arizona law that drew about 200 people. (Writing by Tim Gaynor; Additional reporting by David Schwartz in Phoenix, Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles and Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington; Editing by David Storey)
- Tweet this
- Link this
- Share this
- Digg this
- Reprints
Sorry Mr Escamilla but you are in fact a criminal. You did, in fact, ignore the laws of America. You are, in fact, in this country illegally. You do, in fact, continue to ignore the law, thereby breaking it, thereby continuing to be a criminal.
While you are apparently incapable of understanding these facts; ignorance of the law (and I strongly suspect that you really DO know that you are an illegal immigrant and a criminal) is not an excuse or reason for breaking the law.
I strongly suggest that you, and those like you, return to your own country. No jobs there? No happiness there? No liberty there? No freedon there? No food there? No housing there? That’s a shame but you should fix the problems in YOUR country. Not be a problem, and a criminal, in mine.
The American government may attempt to subvert the will of the majority of America’s citizens and grant you amnesty. I can assure you, however, that should that occur the American government will be in serious peril. There are limits to American’s tolerance for bad government. I am certain that the American Citizens WILL fix the problem in OUR country and you WILL be returned to yours. Unless we, as American’s increase the penalty for illegal entry into our Country. Perhaps American’s should learn a lesson from Mexico in that regard.
Geez, I wish things were that simple so all of America’s perils could be simply erased by the work of a few.
How often do low-level workers like those have significant access to the government?
I don’t think it is as simple as tossing Franco out while citing that he is responsible to fix his own country when we can’t even fix ours. If we’re gonna use excuses to send him back lets stick with the ones that make sense.
Anyways, while I don’t believe that there should be a wide open door to illegal immigrants, I certainly don’t think that legalizing racial profiling is the answer.
Follow Reuters