News Update - April 24, 2010

By Alan Lee, Esq.^†‡

Arizona Law Making Illegal Status A Crime Forcing The Administration To Act On Immigration Reform

Underscoring the need for President Obama to move immediately for Immigration Reform was the April 23, 2010, signing into law of SB 1070 by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer making it a crime to be illegal in the state of Arizona and requiring local law-enforcement to encounter and question persons concerning their immigration status if the police suspect that they are undocumented immigrants.  In the hours before passage of the law, the President heavily criticized the legislation while at the same time acknowledging that the failure to act responsibly at the federal level only opens the door to irresponsibility by others.  Racial profiling despite statements to the contrary by the law's proponents will be an integral part of the new law's implementation.  The passage of this legislation has in effect forced the Administration's hand on immigration and placed the issue on the front burner.  Now is the time for the President to step up to the plate and deliver for his many pro-immigration supporters who helped propel him to the White House in 2008.

† The author is a 30+ year practitioner of immigration law based in New York City. He was awarded the Sidney A. Levine prize for best legal writing at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1977 and has written extensively on immigration over the past years for the ethnic newspapers, World Journal, Sing Tao, Pakistan Calling, Muhasha and OCS. He has testified as an expert on immigration in civil court proceedings and was recognized by the Taiwan government in 1985 for his work protecting human rights. His article, "The Bush Temporary Worker Proposal and Comparative Pending Legislation: an Analysis" was Interpreter Releases' cover display article at the American Immigration Lawyers Association annual conference in 2004, and his victory in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a case of first impression nationwide, Firstland International v. INS, successfully challenged INS' policy of over 40 years of revoking approved immigrant visa petitions under a nebulous standard of proof. Its value as precedent, however, was short-lived as it was specifically targeted by the Administration in the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004.

‡ This article © 2010 Alan Lee, Esq.

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