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Arizona illegals law sparks fury, Obama criticism
AFP - Sunday, April 25
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WASHINGTON (AFP) - – Authorities in Arizona faced new protests Saturday after the US state's governor signed a tough new law targeting illegal immigrants, which critics claim enshrines racial profiling and President Barack Obama branded "misguided."
One of the country's strongest measures against illegal immigration, the law ignited fury from rights groups and a fierce legal and political row, just as Democrats consider launching a comprehensive immigration reform bid months ahead of critical mid-term US elections.
The law, signed by Arizona's Republican Governor Jan Brewer Friday, allows police to question and detain anyone in the southwestern border state they believe may be an illegal immigrant, even if they are not suspected of committing another crime.
It would also require anyone in the state suspected of being an illegal immigrant to show a document proving their legal status, like a "green card" permanent residency document or a passport.
"This bill supports law enforcement and safe neighborhoods and strengthens the laws of our state," Brewer said at a signing ceremony. "It protects all of us, every Arizona citizen and everyone here in our state lawfully."
Opponents of the law say that if police demand papers from someone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant, and they turn out to be a US citizen, their constitutional rights will have been infringed.
A long legal battle is likely, possibly centering on a clause of the US Constitution that protects citizens against unreasonably being stopped and searched.
Mexico, which shares a 3,200-kilometer (2,000-mile) border with the United States, said it will do everything in its power to protect its citizens from the effects of the new law, notably the 400,000 undocumented Mexicans it says are in Arizona.
"The government of Mexico will use all resources at its disposal to defend the rights and dignity of Mexicans in Arizona," Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa told reporters.
"Criminalization is not the way to solve the illegal immigration phenomenon," she added. "The existence of cross-border labor markets requires integrated and long-term solutions.
Obama, in a rare presidential intervention on a state matter, earlier described the law as "misguided."
At a naturalization ceremony for immigrant US service members at the White House, Obama said the measure threatens to "undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and our communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe."
Yet Brewer herself used Obama's own characterization of the new law to accuse lawmakers in Washington of dragging its feet on immigration reform.
"We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act," Brewer said. "But decades of inaction and misguided policy have created a dangerous and unacceptable situation."
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) blasted the measure as blatant discrimination.
"By signing this bill into law, Brewer has just authorized violating the rights of millions of people living and working here," said Alessandra Soler Meetze, director of the ACLU of Arizona.
"She has just given every police agency in Arizona a mandate to harass anyone who looks or sounds foreign, while doing nothing to address the real problems we're facing."
Immigrant lobby groups, pressuring Obama and his Democrats to move on reform despite testy election-year politics, said the new law was a travesty.
"This legislation is not just about immigrants," said Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice. "It's now open season on all Latinos and it's an absolute travesty that Arizona lawmakers would go to this extreme in the year 2010."
But a recent poll showed that 70 percent of Arizona voters supported the measure -- even though 53 percent said it could lead to civil rights violations.
Immigration reform appears to be back on the agenda for Democrats, as they approach mid-term elections in November which could loosen their control of Congress.
Obama has promised advocates who want a path to legal status for 11 million illegal migrants that he will take up the issue, but only if he wins Republican support.
The volatile politics of an election year, however, along with a 9.7-percent unemployment rate have many observers doubting whether political momentum can be built on such an issue.
Some observers believe Democratic leaders see the potential of squeezing Republicans on immigration reform ahead of the election, as the issue is so important to Hispanic Americans, a growing and powerful voting demographic.
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