CHC CHAIR GONZALEZ STATEMENT ON US APPEALS COURT RULING REGARDING ARIZONA’S SB 1070
(Washington, DC)- The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) applauds the 9th Circuit Court of appeals for upholding Judge Susan Bolton’s decision to enjoin Arizona from enforcing the most concerning provisions of the Arizona S.B. 1070. Specifically, the Ninth Circuit Court upheld Judge Susan Bolton’s ruling which, by injunction, prohibits Arizona from: requiring police officers to ask for proof of legal status while making arrests or detaining a person for questioning; making the failure to apply for or carry alien registration papers, a state crime; making it a crime for an undocumented immigrant to solicit, apply, or perform work; and authorizing the warrantless arrest of a person when there is probable cause to believe that person had committed a public offense punishable by deportation. The CHC has long maintained that these provisions are not only unconstitutional, but that they would inevitably lead to racial profiling and harassment. The Ninth Circuit found that Judge Bolton did not abuse her discretion in issuing the preliminary injunction and that the federal government was likely to prevail in its challenge to S.B. 1070.
Congressman Charles A. Gonzalez, Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, issued the following statement regarding the ruling:
“The court’s ruling is a clear message to all other states trying to follow Arizona’s lead: it is not worth the expense, the embarrassment, and the time, to put in place a counterproductive law. As we’ve seen in Arizona, your efforts will hurt businesses, communities, taxpayers and law enforcement.
I welcome the ruling, and applaud the Obama administration for aggressively seeking to overturn SB1070 but this not a fundamental victory since only federal immigration reform will fix the problem. Our immigration system will remain broken until reform is passed by Congress and signed by the President."
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