New Arizona Law Targeting Illegal Immigration
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Today, a pretty dangerous storm across the south. Large tornado hit early this afternoon in west central Mississippi. And emergency crews say damage is extensive. We're told that some people are actually trapped in collapsed homes in Yazoo City, Mississippi. This was south of Memphis earlier today. Take a look. Yes, hail, mixed with rain. IReporter Cathy Cozad said she grabbed her camera as soon as the hail started pelting her house there. And then in Atlanta, it's been a day of fierce lightning and sporadic downpours. This is how it looked outside our newsroom window, just after noon earlier today. Jacqui Jeras is in our severe weather center tracking these storms. And we're talking about reports of at least one tornado touching down in Mississippi, right, and it is still on the move.</s>JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Still multiple reports, Fredricka. In fact, it's just an amazing outbreak. And we're looking at a tornado path, uninterrupted, not necessarily continuous, of probably about 150 miles in that very tornado remains on the ground as we speak. Mississippi emergency response people tell us that their response is massive to this. This storm has really been tracking for hours now, literally. And this is the storm that we're talking about right here, and it continues to move quickly to the north and east at 55 miles per hour. So</s>WHITFIELD: That's a long way away.</s>JERAS: It's a long way away.</s>WHITFIELD: Five more hours.</s>JERAS: Well, and it will likely continue overnight into tomorrow. But once we get towards late night into tomorrow, we don't expect as many tornadoes but still wind damage and lots of hail.</s>WHITFIELD: Gotcha. All right. Thanks so much, Jacqui. We'll check back with you momentarily. All right. Meantime, something that's taking place further west, opponents vowing to fight a tough new Arizona law targeting illegal immigration. It requires police to question people they suspect of being illegal immigrants and those who can't produce documents can be arrested, jailed, for up to six months and fined $2,500. Governor Jan Brewer signed the bill yesterday.</s>GOV. JAN BREWER (R), ARIZONA: There is no higher priority than protecting the citizens of Arizona. We cannot sacrifice our safety to the murderous greed of drug cartels. We cannot stand idly by as drop houses, kidnappings and violence compromise our quality of life. We cannot delay while the destruction happening south of our border, our international border, creeps its way north. We in Arizona have been more than patient, waiting for Washington to act.</s>WHITFIELD: Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. Meantime, CNN's Casey Wian visited a community market in Phoenix today to get more reaction to this new law. What is being said, Casey?</s>CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, at that market, we talked to a lot of different people and they had a lot of different opinions about this new law. Many of them said they were worried about racial profiling, even though that law specifically prohibits police officers from using race or skin color as a sole basis for performing an immigration status check. Several people we spoke with also said that they believed it was about time that this law was passed because the federal government has failed to do something about the illegal immigration problem that is so troubling here in Arizona. Now behind me you can see a smaller than yesterday, but slowly growing group of protesters, they're planning a prayer vigil this evening. They're expecting a couple hundred folks here tonight. Tomorrow, a much bigger rally where there could be several thousand people including people coming from all over the country are expected here at the state capital to voice their opposition to this law, which is probably going to go into effect in late July or early August. Fredricka?</s>WHITFIELD: And so yesterday you talked about a number of people who turned out, was the message any different yesterday as opposed to what you heard from the smaller groups today?</s>WIAN: I don't think so. The vocal message from the protesters obviously all in opposition. But folks in Arizona have been divided about this issue for a long time. The one poll that was done last week on this issue showed most Arizonans actually favored the law. But it is controversial because they're worried that it's going to be tied up in court. They're worried about the image it projects to the rest of the country, as perhaps showing Arizona as being intolerant. So there is a lot of division about this law. What it is, and a lot of people have said this, is a cry for help from the federal government. They believe that too successive and even farther back, several successive administrations have failed to do with this issue of border security and illegal immigration. They're frustrated. They believe it is time that the state has to act.</s>WHITFIELD: Casey Wian, thanks so much, in Phoenix. Meantime, President Barack Obama is voicing concern about the new Arizona immigration law. But he agreed that part of the blame rests with the federal government.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others. That includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona, which threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe. In fact, I've instructed members of my administration to closely monitor the situation and examine the civil rights and other implications of this legislation.</s>WHITFIELD: And earlier today I asked our legal guys Avery Friedman and Richard Herman whether this new law will actually hold up in court.</s>AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: The legislation, Fredricka, is flatly unconstitutional, flatly unconstitutional. And, again -</s>WHITFIELD: Because?</s>FRIEDMAN: Because several reasons. It violates supremacy clause, violates the 14th amendment, violates the 4th amendment, multitude of issues. But I thought more deeply about this and I understand that this is motivated by frustration. Doesn't justify an unlawful act, but I am certain that the legislators, most of whom know better, know it is unconstitutional. They're frustrated with Washington.</s>WHITFIELD: Well, if the federal judge may be enjoining and try to stop this law from actually taking place, how long would that take? Would that take months, months perhaps after this law actually goes into effect?</s>FRIEDMAN: Oh, no. I think it would be immediate. The court would grant a restraining order and stop it before it is enforced which would be late July, early August.</s>WHITFIELD: OK, so Richard, how do you see this playing out? The governor reassures people that police will be trained so that people aren't just arbitrarily stopped, that police feel that they have good reason to stop the people that they do. What kind of training would have to take place?</s>RICHARD HERMAN, LAW PROFESSOR: Well, the grounds will be reasonable suspicion that they're illegal. Those are the grounds in the statute that was enacted. Reasonable suspicion, as Avery knows, is a well accepted principle in criminal law. It is enacted every single day on detention, when police officers detain people, it is based on reasonable suspicion. So that is the standard there. But Avery hit on something very important, Fredricka. You know it's easy on the East Coast to comment and criticize the statute. But where Phoenix is the kidnapping capital of the world, where the crime rate is through the roof, where the schools are overcrowded, where the murder rates are through the roof and they sit and wait year after year for the federal government to be responsible and enact a global immigration policy, it is not happening. And they're frustrated and took the first move.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Avery Friedman and Richard Herman. You can catch them every weekend on Saturday's new Eastern hour where they tackle some of the toughest legal cases on the docket. All right. Keeping the art of penmanship alive. One New York City school is actually getting all As on that.