Arizona Law Vs. Federal Law.

[verytwistedmind.livejournal.com]

I have heard and seen a lot of demagoguery over the recent Arizona immigration law.  Obama called the law  'Misguided'.   Ricky Martin said it was discrimination  , Shakira said “It is unjust and it’s inhuman, and it violates the civil and human rights of the Latino community”. Even Conservatives have spoken out against the bill Karl Rove,  Jeb Bush, . Scarborough even pulled a Godwin and compared it to the Nazi’s "let me see your papers".  I could supply a more examples but those were the most interesting to me.

If all of this is true, why has there never been an outcry over the Federal law governing immigration?

The Arizona bill mirrors the federal law. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 states:

8 U.S.C. § 1304 : US Code - Section 1304

Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him pursuant to subsection (d) of this section. Any alien who fails to comply with the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall upon conviction for each offense be fined not to exceed $100 or be imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both.

In my research I found one powerful caveat that would undermine the authority of the Arizona law:

TITLE 8 > CHAPTER 12 > SUBCHAPTER II > Part VIII > § 1324

(c) Authority to arrest

No officer or person shall have authority to make any arrests for a violation of any provision of this section except officers and employees of the Service designated by the Attorney General, either individually or as a member of a class, and all other officers whose duty it is to enforce criminal laws.

 

However, this power has not always been solely in the hands of Officers who report to the Attorney General. In 1996, the U.S. trained local officers to enforce national immigration laws under the   287(g)   program

The AZ law merely empowers State Officers to do the job Officers under the Attorney General are not. In fact AZ officials reached out to the feds for training assistance.

Another argument against this bill is Racial Profiling; the law specifically prohibits profiling people based on appearance or other characteristics. It requires police officers, who form a "reasonable suspicion" that someone is an illegal immigrant during a lawful stop, to determine the person's immigration status. A prime example of reasonable suspicion might be the inability of an individual to produce any valid U.S. identity documents. In addition, the law focuses on illegal immigrants who have committed more serious offenses by requiring police to check the immigration status for all people arrested and authorizes law enforcement agencies to transfer verified illegal immigrants into federal custody.  Additional Powers

x-posted

http://www.keytlaw.com/blog/2010/04/anti-illegal-immigration-law-part-1/