Jan Brewer: Arizona to enforce 'show me your papers' policy ASAP

By Paloma Esquivel

5:19 p.m. CDT, June 25, 2012

PHOENIX -- Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said that police agencies can immediately begin enforcing the controversial “show me your papers” provision of the state’s landmark immigration law -- the section that was upheld by the U.S Supreme Court.
“We will move forward instructing law enforcement to begin practicing what the United States Supreme Court has upheld,” Brewer said at a news  conference Monday.
Justices struck down three key provisions of the Arizona law cracking down on illegal immigrants — including a requirement that made it a crime for certain immigrants to fail to carry registration papers — saying that the federal government has the sole power to enforce laws against illegal immigration.

But the court let stand a section that requires police to check the immigration status of any person who has already been stopped for another law enforcement reason, such as a traffic violation. These status checks should not "result in prolonged detention," Kennedy said.
Brewer, a Republican, cast the decision on the law, SB 1070, as a vindication for Arizona, saying “the heart of the bill was upheld.”
“Today is a day when the key components of our efforts to protect the citizens of Arizona -- to take up the fight against illegal immigration in a balanced and constitutional way -- has unanimously been vindicated by the highest court in the land,” she said.
But some police chiefs in Arizona and other states said that enforcing the Section 2(B) provision of the law could undermine local law enforcement.
“There is a body of case law defining what constitutes reasonable suspicion in other contexts, but no such guidance exists regarding illegal immigrants, and SB 1070 does not define the term,” Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villasenor said in a statement issued through the Police Executive Research Forum, a national education and information association serving police agencies.
“Under the Supreme Court decision, police departments in Arizona must enforce Section 2(B), and no one respects the authority of the courts more than police chiefs, so we will do our best to enforce the law. But we are in uncharted territory on this issue.”
Police also expressed concern that their jobs will be more difficult because another provision in the section allows anyone to sue the police for failing to enforce the law. Police anticipate being sued by those who claim they aren’t doing enough to enforce the law as well as by those who believe that the law will bring on racial profiling.
“We absolutely expect lawsuits on both sides of this issue,” Villasenor said in the statement. “This will result in our officers being tied up in court rather than working on the streets to reduce crime.”
Brewer also acknowledged that more court battles may be focused on overturning this provision. “It’s  certainly not the end of our journey,” she said.
Arizona legislators passed SB 1070 in 2010, contending that the federal government was not doing enough to prevent illegal immigration. The Obama administration sued to block it.