Border securityArizona's new immigration law in effect tomorrow; degree of federal cooperation unclear

Published 28 July 2010

Arizona tough immigration law goes into effect tomorrow; it is not clear to what extent the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. immigration enforcement agency, will cooperate with police who are trying to enforce it; ICE officials said they are waiting to see whether the law survives court challenges, contending that the law is unconstitutional and could lead to racial profiling; there is a history of cooperation between ICE and Arizona law enforcement: the agency has signed so-called 287(g) agreements with nine law-enforcement agencies in Arizona that either allow local officers to enforce federal immigration laws or allow jail officials to identify illegal immigrants booked into jails to be processed for deportation

An illegal border crossing stopped by border patrol agents, but will they honor their agreements in Arizona? // Source: americanpatrol.com

Arizona’s tough new immigration law is going into effect tomorrow — Thursday, 29 July — but it is not yet clear whether the U.S. immigration enforcement agency will cooperate with police who are trying to enforce it. Without cooperation from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), much of the law would become unenforceable: Police would have no way of determining, from federal authorities, the legal status of suspected illegal immigrants as the state law requires. Without such determination, it would be nearly impossible to arrest them for violations of the law.

As a result, local police officers might have to release suspected illegal immigrants if they can not determine their status.

 

The Arizona Republic’s Daniel González quotes Gabriel Jack Chin, a University of Arizona criminal-law professor who co-authored a legal analysis of the law, that “If the Department of Homeland Security says, ‘SB 1070 is unconstitutional, don’t cooperate,’ … then much of what is going on here shuts down. Not necessarily all of it, but a lot of it.”

Police officers sometimes contact ICE to check the immigration status of suspected illegal immigrants, and if ICE determines the people are in the country illegally, it usually responds to pick them up.

González notes that officials from DHS, which oversees ICE and the Border Patrol, have refused to disclose the agencies’ plans for dealing with SB 1070, which is expected to launch a flurry of calls for assistance from local police. They will say only that they are monitoring a federal lawsuit that is seeking to block the law (“Obama administration sues Arizona over strict new immigration law,” 7 July 2010 HSNW).

The law makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally. It states that an officer engaged in a lawful stop, detention or arrest shall, when practicable, ask about a person’s legal status when reasonable suspicion exists that the person is in the United States illegally.

ICE officials said they are waiting to see whether the law survives court challenges contending that the law is unconstitutional and could lead to racial profiling. “The DOJ has filed a lawsuit in regards to this law and the outcome of that suit will inform the government’s action going forward,” the immigration agency said in a statement e-mailed to the Arizona Republic.

The statement also said that the agency’s priority is to go after illegal immigrants who pose a danger to communities. “ICE is focused on smart, effective immigration enforcement that focuses first on criminal aliens who pose a threat to our communities. ICE uses lawful discretion on a case-by-case basis to ensure that throughout all our programs we are meeting our priorities,” the statement said.

John Morton, the director of ICE, has indicated he does not like the law. In May he told a Chicago newspaper that his agency would not necessarily process illegal immigrants referred to them by Arizona police under the law. Earlier this month, Morton said he understood the frustration many communities feel over the issue of illegal immigration, but he did not think it was a good idea for more states to pass similar laws.

I don’t think that 50 different immigration enforcement laws is the answer to our immigration problems,” Morton told the Associated Press.

In its written statement, the agency said that ICE works every day with local law enforcement in Arizona and around the country.

González writes that the agency has signed so-called 287(g) agreements with nine law-enforcement agencies in Arizona that either allow local officers to enforce federal immigration laws or allow jail officials to identify illegal immigrants booked into jails to be processed for deportation. Only one other state, Virginia, has as many.

ICE also is using a federal database in jails in seven counties in Arizona to identify illegal immigrants previously removed from the United States or wanted for a serious crime in another country. ICE plans to expand the program to jails throughout Arizona by next year, officials said.

Officials from several law-enforcement agencies in Arizona said they have a good working relationship with ICE, and they do not expect that to change if the law takes effect.

González writes that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has conducted a controversial crackdown on illegal immigrants for the past several years, said ICE continues to take custody of immigration violators netted during his crime suppression operations and worksite raids even though they were not charged with any state crimes. “I’m concerned that they might change their policy and not pick up these people unless they are accused of a violent crime,” Arpaio said.