The State of Arizona has reached a settlement in a lawsuit challenging SB 1070. The settlement keeps in place the ‘papers please’ provision Of SB1070. That key provision of SB 1070 section 2(b) which allows Arizona law enforcement to check the immigration status of those suspected of being in the country illegally.
Under the settlement, all Plaintiffs and Defendants in Valle Del Sol vs. Whiting, agreed to dismiss their appeals.
In September 2015, U.S. District Court Judge Susan R. Bolton granted Arizona’s request for summary judgment and dismissed six of seven of the Plaintiffs claims in Valle del Sol v. Whiting. Judge Bolton also upheld section 2(b) which allows officers, while enforcing other laws, to question the immigration status of those suspected of being in the country illegally. The ACLU and other plaintiffs appealed the U.S. District’s Court decision. Both parties have agreed to dismiss their appeals.
The informal opinion memorializes the U.S. District Court and the U.S. Supreme Court rulings. The Plaintiffs also agreed to reduce their attorneys fees to $1.4 million dollars.
The Attorney General opinion, which will be sent to law enforcement agencies across the state, sets down narrow guidelines for how two remaining provisions of the law, Sections 2(B) and 2(D), can be enforced. The opinion dictates that officers cannot use race or ethnicity to develop reasonable suspicion that someone is unlawfully present in the United States, cannot stop people solely to investigate immigration status, and cannot hold people in order to investigate immigration status if it will extend the stop beyond the time necessary to address the state law basis for the contact.
Plaintiffs in the case include Valle del Sol, the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Service Employees International Union, the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union, Southside Presbyterian Church of Tucson, Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, Arizona South Asians for Safe Families, the Asian Chamber of Commerce of Arizona, Border Action Network, and the Arizona Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League.
Counsel on the case include the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the National Immigration Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants’ Rights Project, the ACLU of Arizona, the National Day Labor Organizing Network, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the Ortega Law Firm, P.C., Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, and Altshuler Berzon LLP.