By:  Timothy Sutton, Communications Editor

After two years of being deadlocked in the court system, the injunction preventing Arizona’s police force from enforcing the racially controversial “papers please,” program was lifted Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton. The decision is the latest legal move in Valle del Sol v. Whiting, a class action legal challenge to SB 1070 that was filed in May 2010. Plaintiffs include an Arizona-born citizen of Spanish and Chinese descent who was racially profiled.  “While today’s ruling puts civil rights at risk, it does nothing to undermine our resolve to continue fighting until SB 1070 is struck down in its entirety,” said Chris Newman, legal director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. The Supreme Court upheld SB 1070 2(b), also known as the “papers please,” provision, earlier this summer. However, Justice Kennedy suggested there would be clear constitutional problems if the law were used to target racial or ethnic minorities, or to detain people for an unreasonable period of time while checking their immigration status. Opponents assert this unwanted outcome of targeting minorities is certain to transpire.

However, Governor Jan Brewer insists that the “papers please,” law does not allow Arizona law enforcement to conduct pretext stops because it requires reasonable suspicion. In a public statement she claimed Wednesday’s District Court ruling is “one big step closer to implementing the core provision of SB 1070.” That provision? Ridding Arizona of illegal immigrants.

Arizona’s highly controversial Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was also been quoted on the Glenn Beck Show, clarifying his interpretation of reasonable suspicion, “If they have their speech, what they look like, if they look like they come from another country, we can take care of that situation.” As Brewer and Arpaio ramp up for the certain increase in detainment leading to deportation both Cecilia Wong of the ACLU and Victor Viramontes of MALDEF have committed to continue the fight against SB 1070.

It won’t be long before SB 1070 2(b) is back in the courthouse being challenged for racial profiling and discrimination based upon national origin. We will keep you updated on those and other immigration related breaking news as it develops. For more information, contact one of our immigration professionals at info@immigrationcompliancegroup.com or call 562 612.3996.

By:  Timothy Sutton, Communications Editor

Neil Rivas, a Latino artist in the San Francisco Bay area has created a series of immigrant status parodies on America’s most beloved comic book superheroes. The Ramp Gallery at the SOMArts Cultural Center in San Francisco that displays a hallway lined with Rivas’s parodies, which urge viewers to call ICE agents on heroes such as Superman, Wolverine, and Wonder Woman. Each poster sites the immigrant origins of the heroes and their undocumented status.

The exhibit highlights the gravity of loss our country would incur if we strictly applied our current immigration policies. What would our world be without Clark Kent or the scruffy Canadian Wolverine? I took the parody a step further considering my America without immigrants:

Without immigrants many of our favorite foods, like artichokes, would not be available. Were it not for the French and Italian American immigrants, the artichoke would not have found its home in California. Further, the “hand-labor” required by the agriculture industry relies heavily on immigrant, temporary, and even undocumented workers to survive. Not thrive, but merely survive.

The recent wave of state legislation denying rights to undocumented immigrants has greatly contributed to the growing social unrest with our current immigration politics. NBC News recently reported that a US permanent resident is currently locked up in Etowah County Detention Center because he mistakenly marked his status on a motorcycle driver’s license application “US Citizen.” The social and financial costs of our broken immigration systems are magnified even more by the speed and breadth of our modern communication mediums and social networks.

The ACLU recently challenged the validity of an Alabama state law that required immigration checks for school students; the Eleventh Circuit ruled they imposed a “significant interference with the children’s right to education” and therefore violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution. The general public is becoming increasingly sensitive to how theses secular immigration laws impact civil rights. “Illegal Super Heroes” is a perfect example of how current immigration issues have moved out of the legal and political realm into American’s daily lives.

For more information about the latest immigration court rulings and other breaking immigration news, subscribe to our blog and contact our office to discuss your business visa needs, I-9 audits, training and compliance program,   562 612.3996, info@immigrationcompliancegroup.com.