An immigration enforcement advocacy organization is pleased that the core of Arizona's high-profile immigration law has finally taken effect.
Last week a judge ruled that police in Arizona can immediately start enforcing the most contentious section of the state's immigration law (SB 1070) that was signed by Governor Jan Brewer in the spring of 2010. The ruling marks the first time police can carry out the law's requirement that officers, while enforcing other laws, question the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country illegally. What critics have called the "show me your papers clause" has been at the center of a two-year legal battle that culminated in a U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the requirement.
Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), applauds the ruling.
"I think it's indicative of how well financed some of these organizations are that they were able to get back into court and drag this out for still a few more months," he says, "but finally the judge has said Enough is enough; Arizona can go ahead and do this. It's an important step in trying to control illegal immigration. It is a deterrent."
And Mehlman says FAIR believes Arizona police will exercise this law judiciously.
"They are not going to simply ask about people's immigration status at random," he assures. "They're going to do this in a professional manner when they have reasonable suspicion that somebody's in the country illegally. They are going to check the way that SB 1070 requires them to."
Mehlman says SB 1070 is popular among voters not just in Arizona, but elsewhere across the U.S.