Arizona immigration law amended to clarify, make more resistant to legal challenges
Jan Brewer has signed a new bill that clarifies and modifies parts of the recently-signed immigration bill, with the intent of clarifying what it's intended to do and also to help avoid legal challenges (such as from the Mexican government-linked American Civil Liberties Union). Link to the new bill and excerpts are below. Per Brewer:
Taking into consideration questions and concerns that have been expressed about the SB1070 legislation I signed last week, today I signed HB 2162 which defines and clarifies even further the proper implementation and enforcement of the law. These changes specifically answer legal questions raised by some who expressed fears that the original law would somehow allow or lead to racial profiling. These new amendments make it crystal clear and undeniable that racial profiling is illegal, and will not be tolerated in Arizona.
Needless to say, the ACLU's quest to support illegal activity hasn't abated (link):
"It doesn't deter anything," said Dan Pochoda, legal director of the Arizona ACLU. "It's not a serious hurdle." ...Pochoda said that law enforcement officers -- under strong pressure to find and remove illegal immigrants -- could still identify people by race and then look for a minor infraction as an excuse to investigate them.
Any cop could do that now, anywhere, so hopefully a judge will consider any of his claims based on that to be bogus.
The new bill containing the amendments is here and contains among others (bolding and strikeouts as at the link):
For any lawfulcontactstop, detention or arrest made by a law enforcement official or a law enforcement agency of this state or a law enforcement official or a law enforcement agency of a county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state in the enforcement of any other law or ordinance of a county, city or town or this state where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alienwhoand is unlawfully present in the United States, a reasonable attempt shall be made, when practicable, to determine the immigration status of the person, except if the determination may hinder or obstruct an investigation. Any person who is arrested shall have the person's immigration status determined before the person is released. The person's immigration status shall be verified with the federal government pursuant to 8 United States code section 1373(c). A law enforcement official or agency of this state or a county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state may notsolelyconsider race, color or national origin in implementing the requirements of this subsection except to the extent permitted by the United States or Arizona Constitution. A person is presumed to not be an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States if the person provides to the law enforcement officer or agency any of the following [list deleted]
It also adds this:
C. A law enforcement official or agency of this state or a county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state may not consider race, color or national origin in the enforcement of this section except to the extent permitted by the United States or Arizona constitution.
Certain penalties are eliminated or reduced, and the preceding paragraph is added in a couple more places.
UPDATE: For technical reasons, the strikeouts in the excerpt above weren't showing initially, now fixed.