Immigration Laws

An immigration reform is a change or transformation of the law of immigration in a given place. Arizona as a state has gone through various immigration reforms, which have attracted a lot of discussion. The Arizona immigration law seeks to address the issue of illegal immigrants in the State and the country at large. It is essential to note that the most controversial immigration reform in Arizona is the one that was made in 2010 as will be discussed.
Recently, Arizona enacted laws that addressed the issue of immigration in the State. These laws were meant to address issues relating to crimes and the penalties relating to enforcement of  arizona  immigration law . These laws were enacted in April of 2010 and were not supposed to become effective until July of the same year. The laws that were enacted include HB 2162 and SB 1070. They were supposed to come into force on the 29th day of July 2010. However, surrounding the controversy around the laws, the Department of Justice in the United States filed a suit asking the court for an injunction to stop the effectiveness of the laws. The department claimed that the injunction should be granted since the laws were unconstitutional. The request of the Department of Justice was granted by Judge Bolton on the 28th day of July 2010, a day before the laws were supposed start being effective. An injunction was, therefore, placed on these laws.
However, on the 1st day of November 2010, an appeal against the injunction was brought and heard by the Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer. On the 11t day of April 2011, after all arguments had been heard, the U.S Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the injunction. The court, therefore, ruled against the appeal. It should be noted that some of the arguments heard in court pertained to previous laws that had been enacted in Arizona.
It is essential that we look at this controversial law and also look at the reasons as to why court allowed an injunction against it. As has been noted, the law was approved by the legislature of Arizona and signed into law by the governor. It contained provisions that related to harboring and transportation of illegal immigrants, trespassing, employer sanctions, alien registration documents and smuggling of humans among others. Most of these were regarded as crimes, and they had punishments attached to them. On the day of signing this law by the Governor, he further issued instructions that law enforcement officers should enforce the law and apprehend all those who are under reasonable suspicion.
The questions that arose as a result of this law included its constitutionality and the costs for enforcement of the law, given the tight budget under which the State was expected to run. In court, various issues were raised, which included the violation of the arizona immigration law of the right to speech and freedom from unreasonable searches & seizures. It was, therefore, argued that since this law violates some of the provisions of the constitution, it is unconstitutional.