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06/18/12
Arizona's controversial 2010 immigration law
, which is waiting to be upheld by the Supreme Court, has the Arizona police sweating. A section of the law, which is not at issue before any court, allows any agency with a policy to restrict the enforcement of the immigration law to be sued by anyone. While the provision was originally intended to discourage agencies with sanctuary policies, it has the effect of putting the police in a tight spot. The Washington Post recently reported the Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villasenor as saying, “There are people just waiting to challenge this law on both sides of the spectrum.”
Though none of the seven challenges made to the law so far has yet alleged that the police have a sanctuary policy, the question would ultimately arrive. While the ability to sue any agency not enforcing the law became effective in July 2010, a federal judge blocked enforcement of several parts of the law by the police. The litigation over the contentious issues is pending, but, right now, the police are not in a position to enforce the law, and the public are in a position to sue it for not enforcing the law.
Though under the law's provisions, law enforcement officers are indemnified for attorney fees and legal costs, such reimbursement is subject to proof that the concerned officer or officers did not act in bad faith. And that eats up time.
The situation was summed up succinctly by former Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard: “Unless you fully investigate the misdemeanor charge of being in the country without citizenship papers, you could be sued … Whereas if you don't follow up on an armed robbery, you can't be sued. It's meddling with the police chief's ability to decide what's best for the safety of a community.”
However, Republicans do not give credence to the confusion. Former Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce said, “It's all about compliance … If you don't comply, there will be lawsuits. If you do comply, there's no problem.” Another Republican, Rep. John Kavanagh said, “These are more red herrings brought by the opponents of SB1070 who don't want people to accept that it's reasonable.”
Right now, as matters stand, opponents of the
SB1070
can sue the police on charges of
racial profiling
or other infringements, but people on the other side can also sue the police for restricting the enforcement of SB1070.
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