BY REP. Russ Jones
The recently signed immigration law (SB 1070), which goes into effect July 29 of this year, has received a considerable amount of negative coverage in the local and national media. I’d like to dispel the rumors and provide the back-story on how the Legislature came to support SB 1070 and the following “trailer bill” in HB 2162.
Most of my colleagues and the media were surprised when I voted in support of SB 1070 on the House of Representatives floor and did not offer my amendment even though I had the votes for it. I voted for SB 1070 due to a promise made to me by state Sen. Russell Pearce that he would work with me on a trailer bill with modifications to the law that I felt were critical. HB 2162 addressed these concerns and we passed this legislation several days later with the governor signing it the very next day.
As signed, SB 1070 attempted to mirror federal law by making it a state crime to be in the country illegally, as it has been in federal statute for decades. What has changed is the trailer bill addressed concerns raised even before SB 1070 was passed.
We addressed concerns about racial profiling in an attempt to elaborate that racial profiling is not and will not be tolerated, nor is it something I would have voted for. Rather, by recognizing an established standard such as “reasonable suspicion” for Arizona law enforcement to utilize when in the course of their duties they are confronted with both legal and unlawfully present aliens, it protects both the officer and individuals.
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Tags: Arizona, Illegal Immigration, News Item, OpEd, Opinion, SB 1070
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