Ever since the Arizona governor signed the Legal Arizona Workers Act, a state legislation that included tougher immigration enforcement into law, the US government and the Obama administration have been threatening to file lawsuit to challenge the state’s power to legislature over matters involving immigration related issues.
The administration’s opposition was based on the position that, traditionally, immigration issues have always been an exclusive subject matter that belongs to the federal government. However, Arizona state’s argument, echoed by quite a few legislative members of some other states of stricter stance over illegal immigration, was that states now have to take over certain aspect of the matter into their own hands because of the federal government’s failure to enact and enforce the much needed immigration reform laws.
Right before the brink of this most disputed and therefore the most watched piece of Arizona legislation becoming effective, the US Supreme Court today agreed to review this controversial Arizona law. The opposition from the current administration against this Arizona state legislation is not about the law itself but more targeted at the measures of the legislation that empowers the local police to question anyone who authorities have a “reasonable suspicion” is an illegal immigrant. The law also made it a crime for illegal immigrants to be “knowingly present” in the state of Arizona. These tough languages in the law that are about to become effective delivered a strong message across the country and across the borders, too. The government of Mexico even issued travel warnings to its citizens to avoid the state of Arizona in fear of the anticipated problems and many US cities and civil rights organizations have launched campaigns to boycott Arizona which has already suffered economic losses due to cancellations of scheduled conventions in Arizona as a result.
The final result of this legislative review by the US Supreme Court and the opinions of the Justices in this matter will have a far and farther reaching significance in many aspects of the US immigration history and strong impact on all immigrant communities, businesses in certain industries, and therefore the already troubled US economy. Yu, South & Associates is watching this new development closely tand we will bring you the latest updates as the process unfolds. If you have any questions about this posting or the Legal Arizona Workers Act or about US immigration laws in general, you can send your email to us directly here at:
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