Arizona "Papers, Please" Law May Hit Tech Workers

dcblogs writes "H-1B workers and foreign students may think twice about attending school or working in Arizona as a result of the state's new immigration law. If a police officer has a 'reasonable suspicion' about the immigration status of someone, the officer may ask to see proof of legal status. Federal immigration law requires all non-US citizens, including H-1B workers, to carry documentation, but 'no state until Arizona has made it a crime to not have that paperwork on your person,' said immigration lawyer Sarah Hawk. It means that an H-1B holder risks detention every time they make a 7-11 run if they don't have their papers, or if their paperwork is out of date because US immigration authorities are behind in processing (which condition does not make them illegal). The potential tech backlash over the law may have begun yesterday with a call by San Francisco City Atty. Dennis Herrera 'to adopt and implement a sweeping boycott of the State of Arizona and Arizona-based businesses.'"

Comments

Uh... contradictory?

[mysidia]

Federal immigration law requires that all non-US citizens, including H-1B workers, to carry documentation, but 'no state until Arizona has made it a crime to not have that paperwork on your person,'

So it already was a crime.

The real news is a state is now making an effort to enforce the law, since the executive branch of the federal government has quite clearly failed to fulfill their constitutional duties on the matter, in regards to enforcing the US borders.

Re:Quite reasonable

[iluvcapra]

That's not true, they can ask for your documentation in course of an "lawful encounter" (the actual language of the law), which is a novel standard and seems pretty ambiguous. If a cop breaks into your house without a warrant, then he can't ask for your passport. Any other situation appears to be fair game.

US Citizens too

[ndogg]

US citizens can also be stopped and asked for their papers too, and can be arrested, and held until they can prove their citizenship.

Re:What about the presumption of innocence?

[Anonymous Coward]

Arizona is just enforcing fed law:

(d) Every alien in the United States who has been registered and fingerprinted under the provisions of the Alien Registration Act, 1940, or under the provisions of this Act shall be issued a certificate of alien registration or an alien registration receipt card in such form and manner and at such time as shall be prescribed under regulations issued by the Attorney General.

(e) Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him pursuant to subsection (d).

http://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/SLB/HTML/SLB/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-29/0-0-0-8289.html

If we are not going to enforce the laws, take them off the books.

Re:What about the presumption of innocence?

[Achromatic1978]

Speaking as someone who is "in between" (I have a 2 year green card, which is in the process of 'removing limitations', i.e. being issued as a 10 year green card), there are things you should know:

1. Backups are so bad that you are advised to send in your paperwork four to five months before your current papers expire. They will not accept paperwork more than six months prior. However, tThis is no guarantee that your new ones will be issued by the expiry. Indeed you might find yourself waiting an additional YEAR or more after expiry before new cards are issued
2. During this time, you are "on a stay authorized by the Attorney General", in essence, "until your application is accepted or declined". However, this status is not one of record. You will get a letter from USCIS stating that your application is in process, and that this letter does not suffice as a visa, etc, etc. If you contact USCIS, you will be told that you can NOT get a letter confirming that you are in that period - that, essentially, you are at the mercy of the various bureaucracies and service centers.
3. Do you know that if you are a foreigner who wishes to marry a US citizen, it is both QUICKER /and/ CHEAPER for you to come here on a tourist visa, sign a waiver saying you have no intention of marrying a citizen, get married anyway, and fill out a visa application that basically says "Oops. Can I stay anyway?" than it is for you to actually go through the process the "proper" way? Just one of the reasons immigration is ... "problematic".
4. Despite having paid nearly $1000 two years ago for "processing" (just part of the nearly $15,000 my immigration has cost me in fees and direct expenses alone, not counting airfares, moving, etc) and biometrics, you now get stung for another biometrics to the tune of a few hundred dollars (in case, for example, your fingerprints have changed...)

So, really, fuck you Arizona - through no fault of my own, you feel entitled to detain me because of the failings of the government system? Because I can't get documentation of my status?

Blah.

Re:What about the presumption of innocence?

[lena_10326]

First off the topic was general: "presumption of innocence". Second, (rolling with it anyway) you may be assuming everyone has easy access to their birth certificate. If no one on the outside can help you, you are fucked.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has held Warziniack for weeks in an Arizona detention facility with the aim of deporting him to a country he's never seen. His jailers shrugged off Warziniack's claims that he was an American citizen, even though they could have retrieved his Minnesota birth certificate in minutes and even though a Colorado court had concluded that he was a U.S. citizen a year before it shipped him to Arizona.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2008/01/24/25392/immigration-officials-detaining.html#ixzz0mMredX8e

Re:What about the presumption of innocence?

[Anonymous Coward]

You left out the best part!

 

Unlike suspects charged in criminal courts, detainees accused of immigration violations don't have a right to an attorney, and three-quarters of them represent themselves. Less affluent or resourceful U.S. citizens who are detained must try to maneuver on their own through a complicated system.

Re:What about the presumption of innocence?

[Loki_1929]

Maybe you should read the Arizona law. Maybe the Arizona law tells you. Maybe reading things before commenting on them / bitching about them is just good practice. What do you think?

Arizona Revised Statutes Section 2, 11-1051 (B) ... A PERSON IS PRESUMED TO NOT BE AN ALIEN WHO IS UNLAWFULLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES IF THE PERSON PROVIDES TO THE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER OR AGENCY ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:
1. A VALID ARIZONA DRIVER LICENSE.
2. A VALID ARIZONA NONOPERATING IDENTIFICATION LICENSE.
3. A TRIBAL ENROLLMENT CARD OR OTHER FORM OF TRIBAL IDENTIFICATION.
4. A VALID UNITED STATES FEDERAL, STATE OR LOCAL GOVERNMENT ISSUED IDENTIFICATION.

no such thing as "illegal immigration"

[pydev]

For states that are not on the border, immigration may not seem like it's a bad problem

It's pretty sad when even people who oppose illegal migration fall into this trap.

Immigration is not a problem; immigrants pay, are productive members of society, and get deported if they break any laws.

The problem is illegal migration. Illegal migration is not immigration. Stop confusing the two.