Students had mixed reactions to the Supreme Court's ruling Monday to strike down three out of four contested provisions in Arizona's controversial illegal immigration law, Senate Bill 1070.
The court upheld one of the law’s most debated provisions, section 2(B), which requires state law enforcement officers to request proof of legal immigration or citizenship if there is “reasonable suspicion” that a person is in the country illegally. This has been referred to as a "papers please" law.
Industrial design freshman Ahmed Al Alshaikh said this provision was not too different than laws in his home country of Saudi Arabia.
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“You need to have your papers on you at all times there, and you can be taken in and interrogated for two days if you’re stopped and don’t have them,” he said.
He agreed with the Court’s decision to strike down other parts of the bill, such as section 6, which would have allowed law enforcement officials to arrest illegal immigrants without the use of a warrant in some cases.
Al Alshaikh said immigrants, illegal or not, should have the same rights in a criminal investigation as citizens.
Biochemistry senior Tyshan Jones said allowing law enforcement officials to arrest immigrants without a warrant and requiring them to ask for immigration status documents oversteps boundaries.
“This is outside of a cop’s guidelines,” he said. “They’re supposed to be serving and protecting us.”
He said he was glad the Supreme Court struck down section 5(C) of SB 1070, which would have made it a state crime for illegal immigrants to seek jobs in the U.S. It is currently a federal crime.
Jones said illegal immigrants do not actually take American jobs, a common complaint by opponents of immigration, because many perform menial labor jobs.
“Americans are too spoiled to clean someone else’s toilet or even mow someone else’s lawn,” he said.
Mechanical engineering junior Dylan Hartman said he didn’t think it should be so difficult for immigrants, legal or otherwise, to become citizens.
Hartman, who works as a dishwasher at Tempe retirement community Friendship Village, works with many people who are on employment visas.
“They’re good people,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense that they have to travel back to Mexico to renew their visas every few months.”
He has other friends who are immigrants, including one who, despite being gay, is preparing to marry a female U.S. citizen because he cannot afford the costs that come with applying for citizenship.
Hartman said the Supreme Court made the right decision overall, but he believes it should have also struck down the part of the law that allows police officers to request immigration papers.
“At least it’s giving Arizona part of its name back because we’re kind of the stupid redneck state to everyone else now,” he said.
Psychology junior Katrina Reyes said she agreed with the Supreme Court’s decision, including its choice to uphold section 2(B).
Reyes said she has known several illegal immigrants who were given the opportunity to become citizens but did not take it.
“If you have the opportunity and don’t take it, there’s no excuse,” she said. “You’re making it worse for everybody else, and so I think it’s pretty fair that the police can still ask for papers and deport you.”
Reach the reporter at julia.shumway@asu.edu or follow @JMShumway on Twitter.
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