AZ Anti-Immigrant Law Blocked by Washington

Echoing the state-federal conflicts of the 1960s civil rights movement, a federal judge today blocked key components of a popular Arizona state law that would – among other measures – require police officers to ascertain the immigration status of persons encountered while enforcing other laws and allow officers to make warrantless arrests of suspected illegal immigrants.

The judge’s ruling on the Obama Administration lawsuit is likely to fuel current grassroots conservative rage toward Washington and keep the immigration issue at the forefront of voters’ minds as the November midterm elections approach. The law was widely criticized by progressives and many conservatives as a violation of civil rights and an infringement of federal authority, but it has enjoyed the support of a majority of Arizonans -- and Americans -- who increasingly believe that the 4 percent of the population who are illegal immigrants are somehow responsible for national decline.

Although numerous studies and research show that immigrants are not the cause of rising crime, unemployment, or the destruction of public services, as a disempowered minority of foreign origin they have become the contemporary targets of choice for a seemingly eternal national hysteria that seeks out enemies upon which to lay collective blame for economic hardship and crime.

As the immigration reform discussion evolves in Washington, the decision of federal judge Susan Bolton in Arizona provides illegal immigrants – mostly poor working families – with a bit of breathing room while they hope for more rationality from Washington and from Americans.

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