PHOENIX (By
Paul Davenport, AP)
October 22, 2009
― The Arizona Legislature's
main champion of legislation to combat
undocumented immigration announced
Wednesday he plans a triple-barreled
attack on the issue early in the 2010
session, with an initiative measure
waiting in the wings.
It has to stop. We're not going to take
it anymore, said Sen. Russell Pearce,
R-Mesa, as he unveiled the legislation
dubbed the Support our Law Enforcement
and Safe Neighborhoods Act.
Key components include prohibiting
municipalities from restricting
enforcement of immigration laws, making
it a state trespassing crime to be
present in Arizona undocumented and
giving subpoena powers to prosecutors to
enforce the state's groundbreaking law
to punish employers who knowingly hire
undocumented immigrants.
Pearce had indicated he planned to urge
Gov. Jan Brewer to call for a special
session this fall on the issue, but he
said he decided instead to press for
action early in the regular session that
begins in January.
Though Pearce said he believes he has
lined up enough support among fellow
lawmakers, a special session carries the
danger of not having enough lawmakers on
hand.
He said an initiative being readied for
initial filing in November would be
available as a backup if legislative
efforts fail.
Pearce-backed legislation to criminalize
the presence of undocumented immigrants
and impose restrictions and mandates on
law enforcement in connection with
undocumented immigration failed in the
House on July 1 near the end of the
budget-dominated 2009 session, with 19
lawmakers missing the early morning
vote.
The Legislature's defeat of the measure
was the third time since 2006 lawmakers
considered a trespassing expansion aimed
at undocumented immigrants. In 2006,
then-Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed two
bills with similar trespassing
provisions. The Democratic governor had
said she opposed automatically turning
all immigrants who sneaked into the
state into criminals.
The subpoena provision to enforce the
2007 employer sanctions law would be
considered by lawmakers for the first
time.
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas
has called for subpoena power to make
suspected violators produce records and
give testimony. We need this new law,
and I hope the legislation will pass it
and the governor will sign it, said
Thomas, whose office has not filed any
civil charges under the sanctions law.
Pearce said he'd discussed the
legislation with Brewer's staff and
believed she will support it. Brewer
spokesman Paul Senseman did not
immediately respond to a request for
comment.
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce and
Industry believes the subpoena provision
could burden businesses with having to
pay lawyers to oppose fishing
expeditions prompted by anonymous
complaints from disgruntled former
employees or competitors, President
Glenn Hamer said.
Prosecutors can already compel
production of documents if they can get
a judge to approve a search warrant
good, old-fashioned constitutional
protection, Hamer said. We're not
going to support any effort for a
big-government power grab.
Ken Strobeck, executive director of the
League of Arizona Cities and Towns, said
the municipalities group opposed a
provision in the 2009 legislation on
so-called sanctuary policies that
would have allowed anybody to file a
lawsuit against city employees for
alleged violations of the law.
Pearce announced his plans at a news
conference during which he and other
immigration hard-liners criticized the
U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement
for stripping Maricopa County Sheriff
Joe Arpaio of federal permission for 100
deputies to make federal immigration
arrests.
Arpaio said he is asking Thomas for a
legal opinion on whether sheriff's
personnel can enforce federal
immigration law anyway.
