It's been more than two years since Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed SB 1070 and six months since the Supreme Court upheld many parts of the law, including allowing local law enforcement authorities to question immigration status after a crime has been committed. Regardless, Mexico is still fighting the legislation in court. The Mexican government has asked the 9th District Court of Appeals to block a piece of the law that prohibits harboring of illegal immigrants, something the Supreme Court did not consider during their ruling last summer.
Lawyers representing Mexico asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in a filing Wednesday to uphold a lower-court ruling that blocked police from enforcing the ban. Mexico argued the ban harms diplomatic relations between the United States, undermines the U.S.'s ability to speak to a foreign country with one voice and encourages the marginalization of Mexicans and people who appear to be from Latin America.
"Mexico cannot conduct effective negotiations with the United States when the foreign policy decisions of the federal governments are undermined by the individual policies of individual states," lawyers for the Mexican government said in a friend-of-the-court brief.
The harboring ban was in effect from late July 2010 until U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton blocked its enforcement on Sept. 5. Two weeks before Bolton shelved the ban, she said during a hearing that she knew of no arrests that were made under the provision.
Like most opponents of SB 1070, Mexico has painted the legislation as anti-immigrant and anti-Mexican when in reality, the legislation is simply anti-illegal immigrant.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member