Current Affairs

Recently, the Supreme Court of the United States released a ruling on the Arizona immigration bill referred to as Arizona SB 1070 where the state of Arizona wanted the authority to help federal law officers on matters of immigration. The Arizona measure, in essence, reiterated federal law, and being passed at the state level, allowed state law enforcers to have jurisdiction over the items included in the legislation.

The Supreme Court handed down a ruling 5-3 to uphold portions of the Arizona bill, and also ruled that parts of the state law were preempted by federal law. In their writings about the ruling, Justices Scalia and Thomas wrote about their position in which the law ought to have been upheld or completely disregarded, as a whole. Justice Scalia said in his descent, "Even in its international relations, the federal government must live with the inconvenient fact that it is a union of independent states, who have their own sovereign powers".

Various states have laws regarding immigration that may be now considered to be upheld or preempted by the same ruling. In North Carolina, for example, a recent bill was introduced outlawing the use of federal consular documents as legally suitable identification for immigrants. Also a senate bill was introduced stating that illegal immigrants were ineligible to be given public assistance.

In Georgia, a measure that is awaiting the governor's approval includes items similar to the Arizona law. It allows for the state to detain and punish undocumented immigrants, and to penalize any who would transport individuals they knew to be in the country unlawfully.

Alabama is right now debating a law that requires the names of men and women brought before the court with allegations of illegal immigration, to be published and released to the public. This regulation has popular favor, but is opposed by certain groups dealing with civil rights, and the potential for doing harm to legal citizens.

In South Carolina, a law was signed, similar to the Arizona law, that permits state law enforcers to ask for identification from individuals suspected of other crimes. They can detain those without proper identification. The concern that is being raised is that the thousands of workers on the coastal area of South Carolina will be afraid to show up for work, and that the jobs that they would otherwise do will be left unattended. The fear is that this will disrupt the summer tourist season in that state.

The Supreme Court decision on the Arizona measure has done little to support or impede the efforts of the individual states as they attempt to deal with the many-faceted matter of immigration. Perhaps a more robust action by the federal government is what is at some point essential in helping solve some of these situations.