Ground Zero Arizona: Fallout from New Arizona Law Continues

It will take weeks, if not years, for the smoke to clear from Arizona’s new immigation law.  One thing is clear about the law — it has stirred national controversy and has moved immigration to the front pages of newspapers across the United States.

President Barack Obama has asked the Justice Department to review Arizona’s controversial new immigration enforcement law. Obama said Friday that immigration reform is a federal issue, and that enacting piecemeal measures at the state level would be leaving the door open to “irresponsibility by others.” reported the Washington Post.

A lawsuit challenging the Arizona law is certain.  However, there is time to file a suit because the law does not go into effect until after the close of the Arizona legislative session.  The Mexican  American Legal Defense & Educational Fund offered a blueprint for the legal challenge to the law in its letter to Governor Brewer calling on her to veto the bill.

We can expect a public response as well.  The Black Allianace for Just Immigation blog has dubbed Arizona “The State of Hate.”  Already, a “boycott Arizona” movement is emerging similar to the successful one when the state refused to recognize a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in 1993.  Within hours of Governor Brewer’s signing of the law, the American Immigration Lawyers Association cancelled its annual conference in Scottsdale, Arizona.  

Stay tuned for further developments from the desert!

KJ