Supreme Court Takes the Edge Off Arizona Immigration Law

Talk Radio News Service/Flickr

The ruling blocking much of Arizona's harsh SB 1070 calls into question the right's get-tough approach to immigration.

—By Adam Serwer

| Mon Jun. 25, 2012 10:58 AM PDT

 

 

Several parts of Arizona's harsh anti-illegal immigration law, which sought to purge the state of unauthorized immigrants through a policy of "attrition through enforcement," were blocked Monday by a Supreme Court decision that invalidated three of the law's four main provisions but let stand—for now—the part of the law that allows police to stop anyone they suspect or being in the country illegally and request proof of their status. The Arizona law had set off a burst of copycat legislation in other conservative states, some even more severe than the original. But with this decision, the laws spawned elsewhere are now susceptible to challenge—and the right's get-tough approach to immigration is at risk.

 

 

"The court resoundingly rejected the argument that Arizona had the right to impose its own criminal penalties for being undocumented in [Arizona] or trying to seek work in the state," says Elizabeth Wydra, chief counsel at the liberal Constitutional Accountability Center. "I think that is very encouraging to challengers of other state laws."   READ MORE

More MoJo coverage of immigration

• "It Just Not Right": The Failures of Alabama's Self-Deportation Experiment
  
• Maps: We Analyze the 164 Anti-Immigration Laws Passed Since 2010
  
• Did Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Anti-Immigrant Zeal Kill David de la Fuente?
  
• Kris Kobach: The Legal Mastermind of the New Nativists
  
• The Small, Interlocking World of Anti-Immigration Advocates
• Flowchart: How Did Harsh Immigration Laws Spread to Your Statehouse?
• Photos: Feeling the Pain of Self-Deportation in Alabama

Victory: New Mexico Governor Fails Latest Attempt to Keep Driver's Licenses From Undocumented Immigrants

Susana Martinez Gov., NM

It is the third unsuccessful attempt by Republican Governor Susana Martinez to repeal the state’s law allowing driver's licenses regardless of immigration status.

February 22, 2012

Thursday, the New Mexico Legislature ended its 2012 session, leaving intact the 2003 state law that allows driver’s licenses to be issued to individuals regardless of immigration status. This marks the third unsuccessful attempt by Republican Governor Susana Martinez to repeal the state’s driver’s license law, HB103, the bill backed by Martinez, passed the House earlier this month but failed to make it through the Senate. An alternative Senate bill, SB235, which would have tightened residency requirements but not repealed the 2003 law, passed the Senate. Governor Martinez, however, vowed to veto that Senate bill. New Mexico and Washington are the only states that issue driver’s licenses regardless of immigration status (Utah issues a driving certificate that can’t be used for identification).

Republican Governor Susana Martinez has repeatedly tried (and failed) to repeal the state’s nearly decade old driver’s license law. Last year, a state district judge halted on constitutional grounds Gov. Martinez’s costly campaign to “certify” the driver’s licenses of foreign nationals. A spokesman for Gov. Martinez claims the current law “leads to fraud, human trafficking, organized crime and significant security concerns.” Supporters of the law, however, say the current policy aids cooperation between immigrant communities and local police as well as reduces the number of unlicensed drivers. 

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