National Immigration Forum
The National Immigration Forum, an advocacy group for immigrants and immigration, expressed its concern for the surviving provision that requires local authorities to determine the immigration status of those they stop.
Ali Noorani, executive director for NIF, called the provision the “pointy end of the sword of the Arizona immigration law.”
“Just as the nation is inching closer to a consensus on the need for solutions on immigration, the Supreme Court is dividing the nation,” said Noorani in a statement.
“Today’s ruling takes us backwards,” said Dr. Warren Stewart, senior pastor at First Institutional Baptist Church in Phoenix and the board chair of the National Immigration Forum. “Arizona’s discriminatory law is an attack on the American core values of fairness and equal treatment under the law.”
NIF also reiterated their concerns that the legislation has already adversely affected the state’s economy, hurting the local tourism industry and driving away residents.
“The Supreme Court might have given part of Arizona’s misguided law a green light, but states will be making a wrong turn if they decide to follow Arizona. Arizona’s law will only lead down a road to economic perdition,” Noorani said.
New American Leaders Project
The New American Leaders Project is a national organization that offers training for first- and second-generation immigrants in civic leadership roles. Sayu Bhojwani, founding director for NALP, expressed her concern that the upheld provision would lead to racial profiling.
“SB 1070 is antithetical to American values of tolerance and diversity. The Supreme Court’s upholding of one of SB 1070’s provisions—that makes immigrant profiling acceptable—is a disappointing statement by our country’s highest judicial powers, and will contribute to immigrants living in fear of “showing their papers,” Bhojwani said in a statement.
She added: “The ruling affirms a culture of fear and arbitrary questioning and negates the significant contributions that immigrants are making to the fabric of Arizona life and to every aspect of American society.
“This ruling is simply another misplaced band-aid and is sure to encourage a patchwork of policy from state-to-state instead of the long overdue, responsible answer to our broken immigration system we need, so that all Americans—regardless of where they were born—are treated with dignity and respect by law enforcement, school teachers and administrators, and healthcare professionals.”
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