By Catherine Singley, Senior Policy Analyst, Economic and Employment Policy Project, NCLR
(This was first posted to the Direct Care Alliance Blog.)
On June 25, the highest court in the land made a monumental statement about the United States’ broken immigration system: only the federal government, not individual states, has the power to fix it. The Court’s ruling is good news, but it is also a call to action, especially for immigrant workers. Nearly a quarter of all U.S. direct care workers—about 23 percent—are immigrants and about 15 percent are Latino, making this an important issue for direct care workers and those who rely on them.
In a 5-3 decision, the Court struck down most of the provisions of Arizona’s anti-immigrant law, SB 1070, which has wreaked havoc in Arizona since it was passed in 2010. After the passage of SB 1070, 72% of Latinos believed that police would be inclined to stop and question someone just because he or she is Latino. In addition to creating a culture of fear, the law resulted in a net financial loss for Arizona, costing the state $434 million and 8,472 jobs due to cancelled conferences, $265.5 million in lost earnings, and $28.8 million in lost taxes.
By declaring that Arizona’s law reached beyond the state’s constitutional authority, the Supreme Court ruling throws a wet blanket on other state and local efforts to regulate immigration. Already, however, the momentum to enact “copycat” legislation modeled after SB 1070 had been slowing down, as states witnessed the harm that these laws imposed on businesses, families, and local economies in Arizona, Alabama, and Georgia.
But the Court’s decision leaves some business unfinished. The Justices left open the interpretation of the “papers please” racial profiling provision of the law, which allows local police and law enforcement officials to stop and detain people who they suspect to be undocumented. It is now up to lower courts to decide whether to uphold that provision, and until that question is settled the fight will continue, in local and state legislatures, in the courts, and in the voting booth. Voters can weigh in on this important debate by evaluating whether a candidate embraces or rejects Arizona’s approach of legalizing discrimination and voting accordingly. And aspiring U.S. citizens can tell their stories—at community meetings, in the media, and in the halls of Congress—to help make a compelling case for comprehensive immigration reform at the national level.
In the absence of the large-scale solutions, we need to repair our broken immigration system. The Obama administration has taken some steps to offer relief for individuals and families living in limbo due to the problems with current policy. The administration has said it will use its legitimate authority to focus its immigration enforcement resources on its priorities, and will not pursue the removal of individuals who do not fit into those priorities. This policy is called prosecutorial discretion. A bilingual publication from my organization, the National Council of La Raza, outlines what this means for immigrant workers and their families.
The Supreme Court’s decision on SB 1070 gives us a strong leg to stand on in the ongoing fight to establish an immigration system that lives up to our American values. It is an inspiring call to action that we cannot ignore.