Nexus: Chapman's Journal of Law and Public Policy

Arizona SB 1070, recently signed into law by Republican Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, has attracted national and international attention, mainly over the dispute of whether the state law comports with the Constitution. Among other provisions, the new law allows Arizona police to ask anyone whom they “reasonably suspect” to be an illegal alien for proof of U.S. citizenship. If such a person fails to produce identification, the police may make a warrantless arrest and detain the person until his or her legal status is confirmed or denied. Before the Arizona SB 1070 enactment, officers could check someone's immigration status only if that person was suspected in another crime.

Supporters of the Arizona immigration law contend that it will withstand constitutional scrutiny because the state law does not encroach on federal law. It merely enforces state penalties to what are already federal crimes. Supporters also admire the state’s “call to action” to fight illegal immigration through a hands-on approach when the federal government has done little in recent years to protect the American border with Mexico. Another mainstay of the supporters’ argument involves the idea that illegal immigrants take jobs away from American citizens.

Yet, dissenters argue that the new law significantly interferes with the federal government’s duty to handle immigration law and that it may open up a landslide of equal protection violations if selectively enforced against certain ethnicities. Dissenters further argue that the law, which gives Arizona police extremely broad and unprecedented power, reeks of long-growing xenophobic tendencies, which are more acute than ever in a post-9/11 economic slump.

Given the recent context of right-wing antics and tirades in American politics—and who can blame the right for being outspoken when they are the minority party—I tend to agree that the immigration law may be a product of right-wing fear mongering, or vote-gathering, if you prefer, catering to the xenophobic tendencies of an overwhelmingly Caucasian state (85% of the total Arizona population in 2008 was white) currently grappling with an immigration and unemployment problem.

Adding fodder to my growing support of the dissent is a recent study conducted by UCLA concluding that the legalization of undocumented immigrants would add approximately $1.5 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product over the next 10 years. Moreover, a study by the Fiscal Policy Institute concluded that immigration and economic growth go hand in hand in the 25 largest metropolitan areas. That these studies present groundbreaking findings could not be further from the truth. Economists have long understood the integral part that immigration plays in supporting and maintaining the American economy.

So while the constitutionality of the Arizona immigration law will be determined through subsequent legal battles, some ideas remain certain notwithstanding litigation: Immigration, the very foundation of the U.S., is a key element to building the American economy. Why then is Arizona so dead-set on enforcing a Gestapo-like law to implement federal immigration laws? Unfortunately, the answer may be that Arizona has simply fallen prey to xenophobic tendencies.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/07/local/la-me-immig7-2010jan07 http://www.asianjournal.com/dateline-usa/15-dateline-usa/4447-immigration-economic-growth-go-hand-in-hand-report-says.html http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/04000.html www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf