Arizona Governor Jan Brewer called this week's 5-3 SCOTUS immigration ruling a "victory" for Arizona.
Really now.
OVERTURNED: criminalizing one’s presence in Arizona without documentation. Federal jurisdiction only.
OVERTURNED: criminalizing working or looking for work without legal status. Federal jurisdiction only.
OVERTURNED: permitting police to arrest people without a warrant if there’s suspicion that they’ve committed a deportable crime. Federal jurisdiction only.
UPHELD (kind of, sort of): permitting police to check a person’s immigration papers during lawful detainments BUT leaving open the possibility of revisiting its constitutionality after the goes into effect. (Translation: legal challenges to every single immigration paper request on 14th amendment grounds--and another SCOTUS ruling in the future).
UPDATE: The Department of Homeland Security announced later Monday that it was revoking its so-called 287(g) agreements with Arizona law enforcement agencies — a partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that gave local police the power to enforce immigration laws.
As one reader at Talking Points Memo wisely observed: "So if a understand this, the political impact is to gut the law enough to make it nearly useless, while leaving enough of it in place to energize Hispanics to get out and vote against Republicans."
I hope the tide has turned against the Arizona fanatics and their brethren nationwide and toward what the country really needs, and what most Hispanic-Americans want: comprehensive immigration reform.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2...rack-obama.php




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