Judge’s Injunction on Arizona Immigration Law Doesn’t Stop Law’s Harmful Impact

Washington, D.C., July 28, 2010 — Arizona’s controversial anti-immigration law goes into effect Thursday, despite a partial injunction handed down Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Susan R. Bolton.  However, most of the law’s harmful provisions will be in full effect starting Thursday, CEI Immigration Policy Analyst Alex Nowrasteh, author of an op-ed in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal.
 
“Judge Susan R. Bolton issued an injunction on some parts of SB 1070, raising constitutional concerns about the law.  But regardless of the question over the constitutionality of SB 1070, it remains bad public policy that will hurt Arizona’s economy, increase crime, and bankrupt the state,” said CEI Immigration Policy Analyst Alex Nowrasteh. 

Bolton granted an injunction requested by the Obama administration that strips out provisions requiring police officers to check a person’s immigration status during enforcement of other laws and requiring immigrants carry their papers on their person at all times.

“Judge Bolton did not grant an injunction enjoining the sections of SB 1070 that harm employers,” Nowrasteh explained.  “The ‘Corporate Death Penalty’ provision that enhances the Legal Arizona Workers Act (LAWA) is still slated to go into effect.

“If the state of Arizona really wants to do something about illegal immigration,” Nowrasteh concluded, “the state should end public assistance and welfare programs for illegal immigrants, not seek to expand Soviet style federal immigration laws.”