Border Action Network

 TUCSON, AZ - Judge Bolton has announced her decision on the motions requesting a preliminary injunction to enjoin Arizona from tomorrow's implementation of SB1070.  Four key areas of the law were enjoined: 1) requiring law enforcement to verify someone's immigration status if they have reasonable suspicion that the person is unlawfully in the country; 2) the new crime of not carrying immigration registration papers; 3) soliciting, applying for or performing work without work authorization; and 4) allowing police to conduct warrantless arrests of a person if they have probable cause to believe that a person has committed a deportable offense. Jennifer Allen, the Executive Director of the Border Action Network, an organizational plaintiff in the Friendly House vs. Michael Whiting et al complaint, issues the following statement in reaction to the decision:

"Arizonans released a collective sigh of relief with today's decision by Judge Bolton to enjoin Arizona for implementing 1070 tomorrow. The pressure and anxiety shouldered by Arizona families, businesses, churches and law enforcement agencies has been lifted for the time-being.  While there are still provisions of the law that we are concerned with and will monitor, we are elated that Judge Bolton blocked the most discriminatory, far-reaching provisions.

1070 is an immoral, unjust and unconstitutional law that has created and promulgated division, mistrust and fear in not only Arizona, but the county as a whole. Today's decision affirms what immigrant families and communities of color have been have been saying since Governor Brewer signed it into law: 1070 is wrong for Arizona and 1070 is wrong for this country. 

While tomorrow's event will continue as planned, they will take on a new tone: one of protest against 1070 and now, celebrating the court's recognition of the law's profoundly negative impact on the public interest. We are confident that this decision will result in an even greater outpour of community involvement in our efforts to increase the Latino vote in this election and to protect and assert our constitutional rights. 

We are better than 1070 and we will continue to assert that our families, our economy and our pubic safety is stronger when we have policies that promote the integration of immigrant families and the recognition of the inherent rights and dignity of all people."

###

Border Action Network formed in 1999 and works with immigrant and border communities in Southern Arizona to ensure that our rights are respected, our human dignity upheld and that our communities are healthy places to live. We are a membership-based organization that combines grassroots community organizing, leadership development, litigation and policy advocacy.

More information on tomorrow's events can be found in English and Spanish at www.borderaction.org.

Judge Bolton's decision can be found at this link.