JURIST - Paper Chase: Arizona to appeal federal injunction on portion of state immigration law

[JURIST] Lawyers for Arizona Governor Jan Brewer [official website] on Thursday announced the state's plan to appeal a preliminary injunction currently blocking the provision of the controversial Arizona immigration law [SB 1070, PDF] that criminalizes the harboring and transportation of illegal immigrants. The part of the law in question makes it illegal to transport, shield or harbor an illegal immigrant [Reuters report] within Arizona borders, creating a separate crime for someone who is violating any other law while also transporting or harboring such an illegal individual. The provision would also make it a crime to encourage or induce someone [Arizona Daily Star report] to illegally come to or live in the state. The SB 1070 provision in question was enjoined earlier this month [JURIST report] by the US District Court for the District of Arizona [official website] in light of the US Supreme Court [official website] ruling in Arizona v. United States [opinion, PDF; JURIST report], in which most of the law's provisions were declared unconstitutional. District Judge Susan Bolton issued the injunction on federal preemption grounds after hearing arguments [JURIST report] on the law in August. In the same ruling Bolton upheld the SB 1070 provision that requires law enforcement officials to check the immigration status of persons they stop or arrest if there is a reasonable suspicion that the person is in the US illegally. Arizona's official appeal has not yet been filed in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website].

Last week Brewer's lawyers and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] presented Bolton with a joint filing suggesting wording for the court order [JURIST report] permitting police to enforce the SB 1070 "show me your papers" provision. Immigration law [JURIST backgrounder] has became a hot button issue as many states have passed anti-immigration laws modeled on Arizona's. In August the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [official website] struck down [JURIST report] several provisions of Alabama's controversial immigration law [HB 56, PDF], upheld a few sections of the law and rejected part of Georgia's immigration law [HB 87, text]. That same month, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit [official website] heard arguments [JURIST report] on two anti-illegal immigrant laws enacted in 2006 by the city of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, which deny permits to businesses that employ illegal immigrants and fine landlords who extend housing to them. In July a judge for the US District Court for the District of South Carolina [official website] declined to lift an injunction [JURIST report] against South Carolina's controversial immigration law [SB 20 materials] despite the Supreme Court's ruling in Arizona.