Compiled by the El Reportero staff
Immigrant rights orga-nization around the country welcomed the Department of Justice (DOJ)’s lawsuit seeking to declare the Ari-zona law SB 1070 invalid.
If enacted, SB 1070 would require the police to try to determine the im- migration status of anyone they stop if there is a “rea- sonable suspicion” that the person is undocumented. In addition, the law would give citizens the right to sue law enforcement agencies that they believe are not fully enforcing the law.
Laws such as SB 1070 are widely known to lead to unconstitutional racial profi ling and interfere with law enforcement’s primary objective of protecting and serving the communities they police. Numerous studies have shown that when people fear the po- lice, they are less likely to cooperate with law en- forcement whether they are the victims or witnesses of crimes. When law enforce- ment does not have the trust of the communities they police, it affects the security of everyone in that community.
In the wake of SB 1070, several states and jurisdictions have intro- duced copycat legislation. The DOJ lawsuit relies on the federal government’s authority to enforce immi- gration laws.
Rights Working Group agrees with the DOJ’s as- sertion that immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility, and in ad- dition to pursuing this lawsuit, RWG calls on the federal government to end programs like 287(g), Se- cure Communities initiative and the Criminal Alien Pro- gram that utilize state and local law enforcement and criminal justice systems to enforce immigration laws. In particular, the prolifera- tion of the 287(g) program that formally deputizes state and local law enforcement offi cials to engage in civil immigration enforcement activities was a signifi cant step down the road that led to the passage of SB 1070. (by Rights Working Group).
ACLU lawsuit spot-lights Sonoma county sheriff and ICE for unlaw- ful detentions and racial profi ling of Latinos
Echoes of Arizona in Lawsuit Asserting Sonoma Sheriff Exceeded Local Authority in Immigration-Related Arrests
Last month, a federal judge in San Francisco is- sued an order Friday that an American Civil Liber- ties Union of Northern California’s (ACLU-NC) lawsuit charging unlawful collaboration between the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department and the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to unlawfully target, arrest, and detain Latinos in Sonoma County can move forward, an ACLU statement said.
The lawsuit charges that the Sonoma Sheriff’s department and its offi cers have collaborated with ICE to stop and search people who appear to be Latino, interrogate them about their immigration status based on their perceived race, and detain them in the County jail without lawful author- ity. The Sheriff’s Depart- ment and ICE have failed to notify individuals who they have targeted of their rights under the law and the charges against them, among other violations of due process.
