AZ Immigration Protests Set for Tomorrow

By Jeralyn, Section Civil Liberties
Posted on Fri May 28, 2010 at 06:49:52 PM EST
Tags: Arizona, SB 1070, immigrants' rights (all tags)

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It may be a holiday weekend, but there's little to celebrate with Arizona's immigration law. Protests will be held in 60 cities across the country.

The protest in Phoenix, to include a five mile march to the state capitol, is expected to draw 50,000. I'll bet it's a lot higher. Sports fans are being asked to boycott some games.

The San Francisco Giants are also hosting a weekend series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and activists are planning to protest outside AT&T Park Friday night and Saturday.

Today, DOJ filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking it to find that federal law trumps Arizona's Employers' Sanctions law. [More...]

In asking the Supreme Court to take the employer sanctions case, the Obama administration said federal immigration law expressly pre-empts any state law imposing sanctions on employers hiring illegal immigrants. The administration added that if Arizona businesses knowingly use illegal immigrants, the businesses can have any of their state licenses suspended or revoked.

Lower courts have said that the Arizona law is not pre-empted by the federal law. That should be reversed, acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal said in the Supreme Court filing.

And DOJ officials met today with Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard and Governor Jan Brewer. They seem to be at an impasse. Will DOJ sue? It's not been decided yet.

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AZ Immigration Protests Set for Tomorrow | 2 comments (2 topical)

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Tilting at windmills (none / 0) (#1)
by BTAL on Fri May 28, 2010 at 07:18:57 PM EST

The AZ law, all 12 pages (as amended) only reinforces federal law. Good luck trying with the supremacy argument, sort of like a snake eating it's own tail.

I wonder what sort of turnout(s) they'll have. (none / 0) (#2)
by EL seattle on Sat May 29, 2010 at 08:55:57 AM EST

If the five-mile march in Phoenix is trying to attract "a swarm" of protesters from other states, I think that might dissipate the energy for at least some of the other 60 related events. But maybe there will be sizable turnouts for every march/rally/event. It will be interesting to see.

All I know is that whenbever I hear about something that's described as a "National Day of Action", I cringe a little bit. It reminds me of the sort of hyperventilated screeching that often happens whenever the RCP gets involved with - or tries to hijack - a cause or event.