What Arizona Immigration Law Really Means
HARRIS: A judge is considering a request by the Obama administration to prevent Arizona's new immigration law from going into effect on Thursday. Let's take a look at what is actually in the law. Josh Levs is here with a breakdown. And there was a lot of the discussion, obviously, over this new immigration law in Arizona. But let's talk about what's actually in it, Josh.</s>LEVS: Right. We went through a bunch of different versions. That's part of what's so important to understand as we lay the groundwork for what's about to happen this week. That you know what the words are, especially in that key section everyone keeps talking about, this whole idea of police being able to pull people over and ask them certain questions. Governor Jan Brewer signed some changes into the law at the end of April, and that's the final version. It's the version we're working with here. You need to see what some of these changes are. Take a look at this. This is the section I'm talking about. Here it says law enforcement may not -- and it originally said solely - may not solely consider race, color, or national origin in implementing the requirements. They took it out solely. So what the bill actually says now is the law enforcement may not consider race, color, or national origin in implementing the requirements. But now you've got to see the second half of the sentence. Look at this -- except to the extent permitted by the United States or Arizona Constitution. So, A, this is basically inviting judicial scrutiny. But the idea here is that within our own system, it's not totally illegal right now to consider race. There's a standing Supreme Court precedent in which the Supreme Court once said decades ago, it's OK to consider race to some extent as one element when deciding whether to pull someone over. So what's they're saying here is that police cannot consider race except to the extent that has been determined to be allowed. So you have a lot of subjectivity there. Let me show you another important change. It originally said for any lawful contact, when it was talking about what authorities can do. They actually dropped contact because the concern there was, what if someone out there sees a crime take place and wants to go to the police? Well, that's contact. Then when they're talking to the police, the policeman is therefore required to ask them for their immigration status. It was changed. It no longer says contact. It says for any lawful stop, detention, or arrest. So you're starting with only those situations in which the police are the ones who go to stop these people.</s>HARRIS: Got you.</s>LEVS: And it goes on to say, in the enforcement of another law or ordinance. So they have to have a different reason to stop them in the first place. They can't stop them for suspicious of being an illegal immigrant. They have to have gone through a red light, something. Then it goes on to say, where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is unlawfully present in the United States. And then here's a bunch of words. I'm going to back through this quickly because I want you to see how much subjectivity it is. A reasonable attempt shall be made when practicable to determine immigration status of the person except if the determination may hinder or obstruct an investigation. A lot of words there. Basic idea, Tony, you've got reasonable, when practicable. There's a ton of room for subjectivity in this law. And when we look at what the court system's going to do and what the police are going to do, this what we're going to have to see. How it plays out and how different parts of the judicial system read that law.</s>HARRIS: You can drive a semi truck through reasonable. Let's do this. Let's push this forward. Next hour, let's look at some of the myths and then compare it with the facts. Maybe we can do that next hour.</s>LEVS: Yes, that's great. I've got that going for you, too. Some of the big myths out there, including how does this compare to the actual existing federal law. How much is really new in here? And how much is not? I'll break that down for you next hour.</s>HARRIS: OK. Josh, appreciate it. Thank you, sir. You know, there was a whole lot of this last month on Capitol Hill.</s>TONY HAYWARD, CEO, BP: I haven't seen this. I don't know the precise number. I'm afraid I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I'm afraid I don't know that, either.</s>HARRIS: Yes, but now we all know his future as BP's CEO.