Federal appeals court upholds injunction blocking Arizona immigration
law
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals turns down a request by Arizona Gov. Jan
Brewer, who had asked the jurists to lift an injunction imposed last year by
U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton. The immigration law had raised fears that
Latinos would be harassed and had sparked strong protests.
By Michael Muskal, Los Angeles Times
12:43 PM PDT, April 11, 2011
A three-judge appeals panel, in a ruling released on Monday, held that a
federal judge did not abuse her authority when she blocked provisions of the
Arizona law that targeted illegal immigration.
The panel of the 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals turned down a request by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who
asked the jurists to lift an injunction imposed by U.S. District Judge Judge
Susan Bolton the day before the law was to go into effect on July
29.
Among the controversial aspects of the law was a requirement that
local police check the immigration status of anyone they detain during an
investigation.
The original law was enacted in April 2010 after Arizona
officials argued that they needed their own law to deal with the growing problem
of unauthorized immigration from Mexico, which shares a border with Arizona. In
general, the law establishes a variety of immigration-related actions as state
offenses and defines how local and state officials can enforce the
measure.
The law immediately sparked boycotts and protests across the
nation as immigration activists argued that Arizona was trying to usurp a
federal prerogative to define immigration rules and had proposed
unconstitutional actions that would lead to profiling and the harassment of
Latinos.
The Obama administration's Justice Department sued to block the
law from going into effect. It argued that the federal government had the
responsibility for immigration law, and the appellate panel agreed in the ruling
released on Monday.
"We hold that the district court did not abuse its
discretion" by enjoining key sections of the law, adding: "Therefore, we affirm
the district court's preliminary injunction order."
Sitting on the panel
were Justices John T. Noonan, Richard A. Paez and Carlos T. Bea. Paez wrote the
opinion and Noonan concurred. Bea's opinion was a partial concurrence and a
partial dissent, according to the 87-page opinion.
In her action, Bolton
blocked the requirement that authorities examine immigration status of those
they detain. She also blocked the provision requiring immigrants to carry
identification papers that would establish the legal residency of those stopped.
That identification could include a valid Arizona driver's license or some form
of "valid United States federal, state or local government issued
identification.''
Bolton had also blocked the provision that made it
illegal for people to seek work in public places without proper
documents.
Immigration reform has been a touchy political issue for
years. Conservatives in 2007 blocked a reform plan pushed by President Bush, a
Republican.
Obama, a Democrat, has not fared any better than his
predecessor despite calls from civil rights advocates to deal with the
issue.
michael.muskal@latimes.com
Twitter@LATimes/muskal
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times