Protesters recited the Pledge of Allegiance as groups rallied against the immigration bill in front of the Arizona State Capitol Building on Friday.

Toughest Immigration Bill in USA is Signed in Arizona

PHOENIX (By Randal C. Archibold, NYT) April 23, 2010 — Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona signed the toughest illegal immigration law in the country on Friday, aimed at identifying, prosecuting and deporting illegal immigrants. The governor’s move unleashed immediate protests and reignited the divisive battle over immigration reform nationally.

Even before Governor Brewer signed the law at a 1:30 p.m. news conference here, President Obama strongly criticized it.

Speaking at a naturalization ceremony for 24 active-duty service members in the Rose Garden, Mr. Obama called for a federal overhaul of immigration laws — an overhaul that Congressional leaders signaled they were preparing to take up soon.

He said the failure of officials in Washington to act on immigration would open the door to “irresponsibility by others.” He said the Arizona bill threatened “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.”

The law, which opponents and critics alike said was the broadest and strictest immigration measure in the country in generations, would make the failure to carry immigration documents a crime. It would also give the police broad power to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally. Opponents have decried it as an open invitation for harassment and discrimination against Hispanics regardless of their citizenship status.

The political debate leading up to Governor Brewer’s decision, and Mr. Obama’s criticism of the law — presidents very rarely weigh in on state legislation — underscored the power of the immigration debate in states along the Mexican border. It presaged the polarizing arguments that await the president and Congress as they take up the issue nationally.

The law would take effect in August. Court challenges are expected immediately.

Hispanics, not long ago courted by the Republican Party as a swing voting bloc, in particular railed against the law as a recipe for racial and ethnic profiling that would recharge voter registration drives.

The Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles called the authorities’ ability to demand documents Nazism. While police demands of documents are common on subways, highways and in public places in some countries, including France, Arizona is the first state to demand that immigrants meet federal requirements to carry identity documents legitimizing their presence on American soil.

Governor Brewer acknowledged critics’ concerns but sided with arguments from the law’s sponsors that it provides an indepensible tool for the local police in a border state that is a leading magnet of illegal immigration.

President George W. Bush had attempted comprehensive reform but failed when his own party split over the issue. Once again, Republicans facing primary challenges from the right, including Governor Brewer and Sen. John McCain of Arizona, have come under tremendous pressure to support the Arizona law, known as SB 1070. Mr. McCain, locked in a competitive primary with a challenger campaigning on immigration, only came out in support of the law hours before the state senate passed it Monday afternoon. Governor Brewer, even after the senate had passed the bill, had been silent on whether she would sign it. Though she was widely expected to, given her primary challenge, she refused to give her position on it even at a dinner on Thursday for a Hispanic social service organization, Chicanos Por La Causa, where several audience members called out “Veto!”

Among other things, the Arizona measure is an extraordinary rebuke to Janet Napolitano, who had vetoed similar legislation repeatedly as a Democratic governor before she was appointed homeland security secretary by Mr. Obama. Her successor, Governor Brewer, is a Republican.

The law opened a deep fissure in Arizona, with a majority of the thousands of callers to the governor’s office urging her to reject the law.

In the days leading up to Governor Brewer’s decision, Representative Raúl M. Grijalva, a Democrat, called for a convention boycott of his state.

SB 1070, sponsored by state senator Russell Pierce, a firebrand on immigration issues, has several provisions.

It requires the police “when practicable” to detain people they reasonably suspect are in the country without authorization and verify their status with federal officials, unless doing so would hinder an investigation or emergency medical treatment.

It also makes it a state crime, a misdemeanor, to fail to carry immigration papers. To thwart the common practice of hiring day laborers at street corners and roadsides, it makes it a crime to do so if it interferes with traffic. It also allows people to sue local governments or agencies if they are failing to enforce federal or state immigration law.

States across the country have proposed or enacted hundreds of bills addressing immigration since 2007, the last time a federal effort to reform immigration law collapsed. Last year, there were a record number of laws enacted (222) and resolutions (131) in 48 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The prospect of plunging into a national immigration debate this year is being increasingly talked about on Capitol Hill, spurred in part by recent statements by Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, that he intends to bring legislation to the floor of the Senate sometime after Memorial Day.

Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, has been meeting with lawmakers and interest groups to try to draft a measure in concert with Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina.

But the outlook is mixed. While an immigration debate could help energize Hispanic voters and provide political benefits to embattled Democrats who are seeking re-election in November — like Mr. Reid — it could also energize conservative voters. The issue makes many House and Senate Democrats nervous.

It could also take time and attention from other Democratic priorities, including an energy measure that Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, has described as her flagship issue.

Mr. Reid declarined on Thursday to say that immigration would take precedence over an energy measure, which he has pledged to finish this year. But he called immigration an imperative that needed attention: “The system is broken,” he said.

He noted that in addition to energy and immigration, the Senate would also be dealing with confirmation proceedings this summer for a Supreme Court nominee.

Ms. Pelosi and Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader, have said in recent days that the House would be willing to take up immigration policy only if the Senate produces a bill first; otherwise they are not inclined to move ahead.

“If the Senate is ready with an immigration bill, we don’t want anybody holding it up for any reason, and we’d be pleased to welcome it to the House,” said Ms. Pelosi. “Send it to us.”