When SB 1070 was first adopted, it was an embarrassment to the state. In order to set ourselves apart from its effects, and to preserve the relationships we were developing across the border, the Tucson Mayor and City Council voted unanimously to oppose it. Now SB 1070 has become a threat to the cohesion of our community. It needs to be repealed in its entirety by the Legislature.
From the start, this was a poorly crafted law. It has been through the courts and several elements of the original legislation have been deemed unconstitutional. And yet, those that remain are tearing apart relationships that have taken years to develop.
Let’s be clear. Local law enforcement agencies are not I.C.E. and should never have been placed in the position of having to do the job of federal immigration agents. And yet, that’s exactly the position in which the State Legislature has placed our local police officers. And the law contains language that gives anybody the ability to sue a jurisdiction believed to be failing to properly enforce 1070.
There may be ways we can trim around the edges of the statute and ease some of the tension now being expressed out in the community. For example, we might adopt a policy that says in a normal ‘stop and release’ situation, TPD will not detain a person any longer than it takes to conduct the normal business associated with a particular stop. Once they’ve got what they need, they won’t hold people waiting for Border Patrol to arrive. Or we might explore refraining from detaining juveniles in cases not involving criminal activities. As long as we’re not giving direction to our law enforcement officers to ignore or explicitly fail to enforce the law, we can and should seek our own legal counsel to find ways to mitigate the impact on the community.
What we cannot do is to direct TPD to simply not enforce SB 1070. That’s expressly prohibited in the terms of the law. And that’s the reason repealing it is the only acceptable solution.
Two years ago, during the time in which our State Legislature was seemingly hyper-ventilating over passing one immigration bill after another, a group of 50 businessmen from around the state wrote a letter to the Legislature. In it they in effect told them to ‘knock it off.’ Demonstrating that their immediate guiding principle is re-election, the Legislature took the cue and stepped away from the issue. The principle of ‘hit ’em in the pocket book’ prevailed.
But SB 1070 was already on the books, and today we’re still reeling from its effects.
To the Arpaio/Brewer wing of the Republican party, SB 1070 may appear as a nicely prepared Honey Baked Ham. To those of us who see its impact tearing apart our community, it’s just a pig. We can trim the fat off the edges, but it’s still a pig. The law does a disservice to local law enforcement officers, and it continues to do a disservice to us as a diverse community.
As a local elected official, I cannot give direction to our police chief to adopt policies that expressly violate the law he has taken an oath to uphold. What I can do though is to work with my colleagues in finding ways to insert legal processes that tend to ease the tensions now being seen on nearly a nightly basis on the local news.
And what I can also do is to advocate openly for our State Legislature to send SB 1070 into the dust bin of history — it needs to be completely repealed. Anything short of that is not a solution. Supporting repeal should be a litmus test for any state level candidate seeking election in 2014.
This article appears in Oct 31 – Nov 6, 2013.
SB 1070 IS PROBABLY THE BEST THING THAT HAS HAPPENED IN ARIZONA! ALSO, THERE IS A LAW THAT SAYS LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT MUST HELP THE FEDS WITH CRIME & SB 1070 COMPLIES WITH THAT FULLY!
WHAT’S TEARING APART THE COMMUNITY ARE MILLIONS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS (THEY ARE NOT “IMMIGRANTS” AS “IMMIGRANTS” MEANS PEOPLE WHO COME HERE LEGALLY LIKE OUR ANCESTORS!) IN THE COUNTRY STEALING AMERICANS’ JOBS, COMMITTING CRIMES, STEALING OUR SOCIAL SERVICES, OVERWHELMING OUR SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, ETC., ETC. – THAT’S WHAT’S REALLY TEARING APART THE NATION!
REPEAL SB1070 NOW
Children who are citizens, worry that their non-citizen parents will be deported, and their family torn apart. So many of the people who support SB1070, don’t even know any undocumented people, but they know inherently it seems, that they don’t like them. (See above in all caps.) I’ve spoken to people who actually believe that all Mexicans are criminal drug dealers, and thus should be deported, en masse. SB1070 is a terrible law. Repealing it would be one step in the improvement of Arizona’s reputation and economy.
What is it with our City Council that they feel this endless need to pick fights with the State Legislature or weigh in on national ideological issues that are none of their concern. You can exercise your personal feelings at the ballot box Steve. How about focusing on your job and doing something about the streets.
Three points you fail to address or consider, Steve: 1) Entering another country without permission is illegal and punishable by the laws of said country. 2) Mexico forbids illegal immigration into their country and punishes those in Mexico illegally with jail time or worse, and expulsion. 3) To ask certain law enforcement officers to ignore certain laws is to ask for chaos and corruption. (Imagine DPS being told to ignore city ordinances, or the FBI ordered to ignore local laws like assault or DUI).
To: Pima Mujer
No they are not “criminal drug dealers”. But their crime levels are way, way more than the % of their residence here in Tucson. Watch the news tonight. See if I am wrong. I think they have a problem, hence we will.
Regardless of what our illustrious politicians say and do, no legislation will change one’s mindset. If a person is willing to pay thousands of dollars to violate the laws of their homeland and another country, they will not magically become law abiding citizens because of some legislation forgiving them. For the most part, I do not believe more than 50% of those here illegally will register, pay back taxes, pay the fine, learn English and become citizens. The logic is not there nor is past history. Mass deportation will not work either, so we will be left with virtually no change in the status quo.
The guest has only outlined what he doesn’t want. It would make a lot more sense if he equally outlined how he intends on locating and detaining illegal criminals.
Unless he has no intention to at all which would be the GENUINE thing to say and that could have been covered in a single compound-complex sentence.
The local police work for Federal agencies ALL THE TIME to round up their felons.
One of the reasons there are so many millions of illegals here – there are NOT 11 Million but 40-60 Million illegals and 80% of them Mexican. Mexico has very rigid laws against illegals and they are very frequently murdered, raped and robbed. It is a “felony” in Mexico to sneak into their country (not a misdemeanor like here). Also, the former Governor Napolitano did next to nothing and a lot of stuff that was predestined it appeared to have little or not effect on the border because she herself is partially of Mex. descent. Her father was born there and I read she went to school there. Her grandmother is a Mex. citizen and she took all her info off the internet. ALSO, MEXICO HAS AN AGENDA TO TAKE OVER THE SW INCLUDING 7 SW STATES AND MURDER ANYONE WHO IS NOT OF MEX. DESCENT. GOOGLE: “LA RECONQUISTA” OR THEIR OTHER NAME FOR IT “AZTLAN” AND READ THE LATE U.S. REP. CHARLES NORWOOD’S REPORT “THE TRUTH ABOUT LA RAZA” to see what they have planned including an “ethnic cleansing” (like Hitler)!