Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has signed that state’s new immigration bill despite widespread questions over its constitutionality. Shortly before Brewer announced the signing, President Barack Obama ordered the Justice Department to monitor possible civil rights violations, here.
The new law allows police to demand papers from individuals to provide that they are legally in the country when they have reasonable suspicion that the person may be undocumented. It allows for the arrest of anyone without such proof. It is hard to imagine how police can look at two individuals and have reasonable suspicion that one lacks a card in his wallet without racial profiling. Of course, there are circumstances that would lend itself to such reasonable suspicion, such as suspect fleeing a business or other such conduct. However, police already have authority to ask for such documentation and confirm there immigration status in such a circumstance.
President Obama’s statement references the most likely basis for a challenge. While a facial challenge could be made, the strongest would be a lawsuit based on “as applied’ data showing racial discrimination and civil rights violations. Notably, when asked what an illegal immigrant looks like for purposes of reasonable suspicion, Brewer admitted that she did not know. The bill seems to invite racial profiling and is ripe for abuse. It also abandons our long opposition to laws requiring citizens to present papers upon demand by police.
Here is the Senate bill: Arizona law
The law states:
B. FOR ANY LAWFUL CONTACT MADE BY A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL OR AGENCY OF THIS STATE OR A COUNTY, CITY, TOWN OR OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THIS STATE WHERE REASONABLE SUSPICION EXISTS THAT THE PERSON IS AN ALIEN WHO IS UNLAWFULLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES, A REASONABLE ATTEMPT SHALL BE MADE, WHEN PRACTICABLE, TO DETERMINE THE IMMIGRATION STATUS OF THE PERSON. ANY PERSON WHO IS ARRESTED SHALL HAVE THE PERSON’S IMMIGRATION STATUS DETERMINED BEFORE THE PERSON IS RELEASED. THE PERSON’S IMMIGRATION STATUS SHALL BE VERIFIED WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PURSUANT TO 8 UNITED STATES CODE SECTION 1373(c). A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL OR AGENCY OF THIS STATE OR A COUNTY, CITY, TOWN OR OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THIS STATE MAY NOT SOLELY CONSIDER RACE, COLOR OR NATIONAL ORIGIN IN IMPLEMENTING THE REQUIREMENTS OF THIS SUBSECTION EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY THE UNITED STATES OR ARIZONA CONSTITUTION. A PERSON IS PRESUMED TO NOT BE AN ALIEN WHO IS UNLAWFULLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES IF THE PERSON PROVIDES TO THE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER OR AGENCY ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:
1. A VALID ARIZONA DRIVER LICENSE.
2. A VALID ARIZONA NONOPERATING IDENTIFICATION LICENSE.
3. A TRIBAL ENROLLMENT CARD OR OTHER FORM OF TRIBAL IDENTIFICATION.
4. A VALID UNITED STATES FEDERAL, STATE OR LOCAL GOVERNMENT ISSUED IDENTIFICATION.
Obviously, a “lawful contact” is any contact that it is not a violation of law which would include the vast majority of encounters with police.
The law also allows for lawsuits for a failure to fully enforce the law:
A PERSON MAY BRING AN ACTION IN SUPERIOR COURT TO CHALLENGE ANY OFFICIAL OR AGENCY OF THIS STATE OR A COUNTY, CITY, TOWN OR OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THIS STATE THAT ADOPTS OR IMPLEMENTS A POLICY OR PRACTICE THAT LIMITS OR RESTRICTS THE ENFORCEMENT OF FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LAWS TO LESS THAN THE FULL EXTENT PERMITTED BY FEDERAL LAW. IF THERE IS A JUDICIAL FINDING THAT AN ENTITY HAS VIOLATED THIS SECTION, THE COURT SHALL ORDER ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:
While this provision wisely excludes federal agencies (which would violate a different part of the Constitution), it is a poorly crafted provision. What constitutes the “full extent permitted by federal law” is a highly subjective notion.
There is a federal counterpart to the provision on alien’s not carrying cards:
Sec. 264. [8 U.S.C. 1304]
(e) Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him pursuant to subsection (d). Any alien who fails to comply with the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall upon conviction for each offense be fined not to exceed $100 or be imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both.
However, the Arizona law appears intended to allow questioning of people based on some undefined reasonable suspicion on their status and to allow for the arrest of those without such identification.
The drafters also seemed to try to deter people from suing over violations with immunity provisions and remitting fines to the state:
PERSON MAY BRING AN ACTION IN SUPERIOR COURT TO CHALLENGE ANY OFFICIAL OR AGENCY OF THIS STATE OR A COUNTY, CITY, TOWN OR OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THIS STATE THAT ADOPTS OR IMPLEMENTS A POLICY THAT LIMITS OR RESTRICTS THE ENFORCEMENT OF FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LAWS TO LESS THAN THE FULL EXTENT PERMITTED BY FEDERAL LAW. IF THERE IS A JUDICIAL FINDING THAT AN ENTITY HAS VIOLATED THIS SECTION, THE COURT SHALL ORDER ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:
1. THAT THE PERSON WHO BROUGHT THE ACTION RECOVER COURT COSTS AND ATTORNEY FEES.
2. THAT THE ENTITY PAY A CIVIL PENALTY OF NOT LESS THAN ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS AND NOT MORE THAN FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR EACH DAY THAT THE POLICY HAS REMAINED IN EFFECT AFTER THE FILING OF AN ACTION PURSUANT TO THIS SUBSECTION.
H. A COURT SHALL COLLECT THE CIVIL PENALTY PRESCRIBED IN SUBSECTION G AND REMIT THE CIVIL PENALTY TO THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY FOR DEPOSIT IN THE GANG AND IMMIGRATION INTELLIGENCE TEAM ENFORCEMENT MISSION FUND ESTABLISHED BY SECTION 41-1724.
I. A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER IS INDEMNIFIED BY THE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER’S AGENCY AGAINST REASONABLE COSTS AND EXPENSES, INCLUDING ATTORNEY FEES, INCURRED BY THE OFFICER IN CONNECTION WITH ANY ACTION, SUIT OR PROCEEDING BROUGHT PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION TO WHICH THE OFFICER MAY BE A PARTY BY REASON OF THE OFFICER BEING OR HAVING BEEN A MEMBER OF THE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY, EXCEPT IN RELATION TO MATTERS IN WHICH THE OFFICER IS ADJUDGED TO HAVE ACTED IN BAD FAITH.
For the full story, click here.
BVM:
“Possible coup d’état coming soon”
you are quite literally out of your mind. Unless you mean the November elections. Then I would agree.
It’s time for the President and the Congress to get immigration reform done … too many bozos are trying to solve the problem with too little brain power … time for the big no-brainers to get to work.
Retired Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely: Lt. Col. Lakin has ‘valid point’
‘He has right to discovery. Producing birth certificate is very important’
“A retired Army general and national-security-policy expert says Lt. Col. Terry Lakin has “a valid point” and should use his “right to discovery” to force the Obama administration to produce proof of his natural-born-citizenship status.
In an interview with Evil Conservative Radio, Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely said, “I think many in the military – and many out of the military – question the natural-birth status of Barack Obama. … I’m not convinced that he is [a natural-born citizen].”
Woosty’s still a Cat wrote:
“Holy Hannah! it’s the rebirth of the birthers!”
________________________________
I would say BVM’s old birther stuff is more like the smelly *afterbirth* I had to remove by hand from some the dairy cows I managed…
Holy Hannah! it’s the rebirth of the birthers!
Not any more, O wise one who pretends to know everything.
His ass has been reassigned to Bethesda.
He will be lucky to wind up as PLO.
[See “No Time for Sergeants,” book or movie, for info on Permanent Latrine Orderly].
The LTC Lakin court-martial may be the first part of a coup by his chain of command and rest of military. Lakin is in Gen. Casey’s staff.
Viera’s feverish daydream is ancient and obsolete, for crying out loud. It is from December 2008. The Congress in Joint Session has since confirmed President Obama, the Chief Justice has sworn him in, and the military has saluted, obeyed and respected him.
That is pathetic.
How about something from Viera that still has some shelf life?
This is hilarious.
The wingnuts have reformed their circular firing squad.
O’Reilly is attacking Lakin.
Lakin is attacking O’Reilly.
“April 19, 2010: Open Letter to Bill O’Reilly
“Mr. O’Reilly:
“Please refrain from using your “No Spin Zone” jingle. Please stop saying you support the troops. Your recent ‘opinion’ story about LTC Lakin with Megyn Kelley proves both of these claims to be wrong.”
See more on Lakin’s site, linked by the BVM.
Will some birther please ask Lakin and his handlers whether they ever consulted the federal legal definition of “birth certificate” and the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution before running off the edge of this cliff?
Possible coup d’état coming soon
Excerpt of possible scenario by Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr. Ph.D., J.D.
“IN THE SHADOW OF NEMESIS”
December 8, 2008″
“On some Monday not so far in the future, “President” Obama meets with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to announce that “Operation Sandblaster,” for a massive nuclear attack on Iran’s supposed “weapons of mass destruction,” will be launched on the coming Friday. The Joint Chiefs remonstrate, pointing out that such aggression will trigger retaliation by Russia and China, almost surely plunging the whole world into a thermonuclear World War III. “President” Obama, however, is adamant, and instructs the Joint Chiefs to have the necessary orders for “Sandblaster”—or their resignations—on his desk by Wednesday morning. Knowing that, if they resign, “President” Obama will simply appoint some unprincipled uniformed “yes men” to carry out his plan, the Joint Chiefs immediately order covert break-ins around the country to obtain his original birth certificate and other material evidence relating to his ineligibility for the Office of President. With these documents in hand, on Wednesday morning, accompanied by a contingent of heavily armed Marines, the Joint Chiefs confront “President” Obama with the evidence, arrest him as an usurper and all the Members of Congress as his co-conspirators, and appoint themselves a Military Commission to function as a “caretaker government” during the ensuing “national emergency.”
“So, at that point, because the courts did not act, and Congress did not act, and We the People did not act, the Praetorians will see fit to act. And even if the Military Commission eventually returns power to civilians, the precedent will be set in steel for “the Latin American solution”—government by junta. That, surely, would be “change we can believe in”—with a capital “C”
http://www.newswithviews.com/Vieira/edwin186.htm
Lakin is headed for a court martial.
The Certification of Live Birth (COLB) issued to Obama meets the federal legal definition of birth certificate.
Here is the federal legal definition:
Title 5, United States Code, section 301 (5 U.S.C. 301 note):
http://law.justia.com/us/codes/title5/5usc301.html
The definition reads:
“(3) Birth certificate.–As used in this subsection, the term
`birth certificate’ means a certificate of birth–
“(A) of–
“(i) an individual born in the United States; or
“(ii) an individual born abroad–
“(I) who is a citizen or national of the United States at
birth; and
“(II) whose birth is registered in the United States; and
“(B) that–
“(i) is a copy, issued by a State or local authorized
custodian of record, of an original certificate of birth
issued by such custodian of record; or
“(ii) was issued by a State or local authorized
custodian of record and was produced from birth records
maintained by such custodian of record.
Under this definition, the COLB is a “birth certificate.” It is a “certificate of birth” issued to “an individual born in the United States” who is a “citizen or national of the United States at birth” and whose “birth is registered in the United States,” and that certificate “was issued by a State or local authorized custodian of record and was produced from birth records maintained by such custodian of record.”
Obama has produced his legal United States birth certificate.
BVM’s ignorance is invincible.
They should have just called this the Arizona “We-Hate-Everyone-Who-Looks-Like-A-Mexican Act of 2010”.
Arizona: ARREST OBAMA!
He is an undocumented worker. He has no U.S. Birth Certificate.
Hear LTC Lakin on Gordon Liddy Show: April 20, 2010
World Exclusive Interview on Obama Eligibility:
http://www.safeguardourconstitution.com:80/news/ltc-lakin-on-gordon-liddy.html
What evidence?
There is none.
Arizona:
We have reason to believe Obama is an illegal immigrant. If he comes there please arrest him.
From the Jaghunter:
“YOU HAVE SEEN THE EVIDENCE OF OBAMA’S INELIGIBILITY. SO HAVE ALL MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AS EACH AND EVERY ONE WAS SENT IRREFUTABLE EVIDENCE BY REGISTERED RETURN RECEIPT MAIL. NONE HAVE CHALLENGED HIS ELIGIBILITY BECAUSE OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS OR PERSONAL GAIN. THEY, TO A PERSON, HAVE VIOLATED THEIR OATHS OF OFFICE IN WHICH THEY SWORE TO DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTION. FOR THIS REASON, EACH AND EVERY ONE MUST BE REMOVED FROM OFFICE.”
http://thejaghunter.wordpress.com
The principal benefit I see in Governor Brewer’s signing this bill into law is that it *forces* the Federal government and Mr. Obama into action to deal with illegal immigration that is out of control in Arizona. Remember that it takes 90 days from the Arizona legislature’s “Sine Die” for the law to become effective. That will provide time for all to work through the initial legal processes and will finally initiate the focus on the real problem of Mr. Obama’s and Congress’ previous stalling on beginning the work required for an equitable immigration policy.
James M.
What does an undocumented alien look like by the way so as to give rise to reasonable suspicion? Brown-skinned, methinks, the minds of some white Arizonians.
I haven’t gone and read the whole law, but based on what’s excerpted here it seems like law enforcement officials should simply treat that part of the law as a change from “may” investigate immigration status where reasonable suspicion exists to “shall” investigate immigration status where reasonable suspicion exists. It doesn’t seem to lower the threshold for reasonable suspicion.
Now whether that reasonable interpretation will be adopted is an entirely different matter. Hopefully the Arizona courts will be some help in clarifying the actual effect of the law before abuses get out of hand.
A fable:
Just outside Phoenix, the battered Chevrolet screeched to a stop amid a cloud of dust and gravel on the lonesome dark roadside. The occupants, a family of five bundled against the cold because the heater coil had failed thousands of miles ago, shuddered. The squad car creaked as its hinges were called into action;the blinding blue strobe casting an intermittent glimpse of the horror on the children’s faces. “Vhere are your papers? Z papers, now!”,asked the short, mustached man in the black leather trench coat,his piercing blue eyes aglitter as he savored his ultimate triumph — ironically, in the land that unconditionally defeated him so many years ago.
What could possibly go wrong here?
A policy ripe for abuse
Combined with
Being the jurisdiction containing the “man” voted most likely to start a concentration camp, Joe Arpaio.
I’ll put on the popcorn while Arpaio’s boys salivate all over the concertina wire they are stringing out in anticipation of fresh meat, er, “new guests”.