Democratic lawmakers in Arizona will introduce legislation to repeal that state's controversial immigration law, SB 1070. But Republican legislators say any attempts will be dead on arrival.
Democratic Senator Steve Gallardo said it’s time to repeal SB 1070, the immigration law that put Arizona in the national spotlight almost two years ago.
“You look over the last couple years…the impact Senate Bill 1070 has had on the state of Arizona. The negative image it has brought to the state of Arizona," Gallardo said at a Monday press conference. "The actual division that has come down here to the state capitol. It has polarized the state of Arizona.”
Republican Senator Ron Gould voted for the law, and says any attempts to repeal SB 1070 won’t go forward.
“I’m the Senate Judiciary chairman. The bill has been assigned to my committee. It’s the chairman’s prerogative what bills are heard," Gould said. "That bill’s not going to get a hearing. It's gonna go in my drawer and it won’t come out.”
Gould said a part of SB 1070 that took effect forced police to check the immigration status of everyone arrested, something he says police in Phoenix, Mesa and Tucson were not doing before.
The U.S. Supreme Court will ultimately decide on the other parts of the law that a federal judge blocked. Oral arguments are scheduled February 15th.
The hearing before the highest court in the land comes at the request of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. It follows a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding an injunction against key sections of the law. Among those sections is a requirement that police, while enforcing other laws, check the immigration status of anyone they suspect is in the country illegally.
