ACLU Wins $200,000 Settlement from Maricopa County Sheriff for Illegal Detention of Citizen and LPR

68-year old Julian Mora and his son were driving in their truck when they were pulled over by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department. They had not violated any traffic laws, but were nonetheless ordered out of the truck, zip-tied, and transported to a nearby work-site immigration raid that was being conducted. After being transported to the raid, they were detained for three hours by the police.

After three hours, they were given the chance to prove that they were lawfully in the U.S. Because Julian Mora is a lawful permanent resident who has lived in this country for over 30 years and his son is a U.S. citizen, they were easily able to do so.

The American Civl Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona brought suit on behalf of Mora against the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department and yesterday a settlement was reached for $200,000.

New state laws seeking to further involve local police in immigration enforcement will make these scenarios more and more common. Law enforcement officers in states with new "papers please" laws will inevitably detain U.S. citizens and some of these detentions will end up being for far more than three hours. Imagine the case where a U.S. citizen speaks with an accent and does not have ready access to his birth certificate or passport. Where the citizen is mentally disabled and is unable to explain his situation to the police. There are infinite complications that can and will cause people to be unable to prove their legal status at the drop of a hat. With time, these "papers please" laws will result in more and longer detentions by local police officers of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who can't prove their status on the spot. And when that happens, the taxpayers will be on the hook for more expensive lawsuits and settlements.

See the ACLU press release here.

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Major Portions of Harsh Arizona Immigration Bill Remain Blocked

Today, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to lift a stay that blocks major sections of last year’s tough immigration enforcement bill, passed in Arizona. The law, SB-1070, was set to take effect last July 29, 2010. However, the U.S. Justice Department sued to block the law, arguing that the Arizona law violates the constitution because immigration is a federal issue. The day before the law was set to take effect, a federal judge ordered an injunction blocking the enforcement of many parts of the law. Arizona governor Jan Brewer filed an appeal of the judge’s ruling, which the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied today. You can see the full article here.

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GOP Senators and 9 States Back Arizona Law

Yesterday nine states, led by Michigan’s attorney general, Mike Cox, filed a legal brief in support of Arizona’s immigration enforcement law. Arizona’s law, which makes it a state crime to be in the United States illegally, has been challenged in court by the U.S. Department of Justice as overtaking federal authority to enforce immigration laws. Michigan was joined by Alabama, Florida, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Virginia in filing the brief.

Additionally, GOP Senators Jim DeMint and David Vitter have voiced resistance to the Obama administration’s challenge of the Arizona law. The senators have announced that they will be introducing an amendment into a small business bill that would prohibit the Obama administration from participating in lawsuits against the Arizona law. For the full article click here.

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AZ Immigration Law First Court Hearing

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton will hear arguments on Thursday, July 15, 2010, over whether Arizona’s new immigration law should take affect later this month. This will be the first major hearing in one of seven challenges to the strict law. Arguments will include Governor Jan Brewers’ request to dismiss the challenge filed by Arizona’s police Officer David Salgado and the statewide nonprofit group Chicanos Por La Causa. Brewer’s attorneys ask to have the officer’s lawsuit thrown out because his arguments are based on speculation rather than a real threat of harm from enforcing the new law. Similar hearings for the lawsuits filed by the federal government and civil groups will be heard on July 22, 2010. Other challenges to the law were filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, civil rights organizations, clergy groups, a researcher from Washington and a Tucson police officer.

To read the entire article, please visit:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100715/ap_on_re_us/us_immigration_arizona_lawsuit_6

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