Arizona Immigration Law Is Heading to Florida

The passage of the Arizona Immigration Law (Senate Bill 1070 with the amendments from House Bill 2162) is the spark that has started a file.  States, including Florida are finding themselves with overwhelming majorities of voters demanding that their state’s representatives act in the face of their inept federal government as election races heat up this summer.    Huge majorities are in favor of the Arizona “get tough” position and if you watch the Florida governor’s race the issue is already taking shape front and center.

Illegal immigration, for all the rhetoric on both sides is a consensus builder to both parties.  The debate always trickles down to how harsh should the punishment be for those already here, albeit illegally.  One thing stands certain, whatever the reforms are that eventually get passed, those with criminal records are in jeopardy of being excluded altogether or in the best case scenario, placed in the back of the line… way back.  More than ever, those capable of changing their status to “citizen” need to act quickly before arbitrary policy changes occur that could prevent such an upgrade. 

With all the noise associated with the debate it is hard to decipher what exactly was passed in Arizona.  In Arizona, just like in Florida, the police are allowed to stop and engage you if the officer reasonably believes that you committed, are committing, or about to commit a crime.  A whole lot of legal precedent has been created over the years to determine exactly what “reasonably believes” means, but needless to say if a judge thinks that sufficient evidence existed to reasonably believe that you were about to commit a crime, then it will be determined that the officer was justified in stopping you.  In Arizona, if the officer suspects that you are here illegally, he is allowed to further detain you until he confirms if your status is current or if you should be deported.  In Florida, usually no such inquiry happens.    

A common example that happens in Florida everyday is when an officer pulls someone over for speeding or a busted taillight and that person doesn’t have a driver’s license.  The officer could arrest the person for driving without a license and either take them into custody or give them a “promise to appear” agreement.  The person could be convicted of a first degree misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.  After the person is released from the court’s jurisdiction by accepting a plea offer, posting bail, getting the charges dropped, or otherwise closing the case, the person is free to go, and usually no immigration authorities are ever contacted.  No distinction is ever made for someone who is present in the country illegally.  The increase in capacity for our jails and law enforcement officials to handle the additional enforcement would likely require substantial financial commitments that are just too costly for anyone to stomach. 

In Arizona, when the person is initially suspected for committing a crime he is going to have to show proof that he is here legally (a state issued i.d. card is enough); and if he’s not here legally, he is going to remain in custody until either deported or proof of legal presence is presented.  If he’s convicted of a crime he may be allowed to serve his state sentence and then transported to federal custody for deportation.   In Florida, because no such inquiry is made at the time of the arrest or after the case is closed, no one is transported to federal custody unless the federal government has an open case on the individual. 

From reading the polls on the implementation of the Arizona law, vast majorities of American’s agree that Arizona’s enforcement of the “laws already on the books” is a good thing.  The expected outcome from such a hard-line approach is that illegal immigration will be deterred and legal immigration encouraged, but what are the unintended consequences? 

What seems to offend so many is that the possibility for abuse is substantial because no recourse exists when the officer makes what is declared to be a bad stop.  Police have to have a legitimate reason to pull you over.  They cannot act arbitrarily or racially profile.  If an American citizen gets pulled over and a billion pounds of drugs, guns, and a dead body are found in the back seat, but the stop is determined to be unlawful for whatever reason, (the taillight wasn’t out or the car wasn’t speeding), then all the evidence obtained from the unlawful stop maybe suppressed and cannot be used as evidence against the driver. 

In Arizona, even if the stop is determined to be unlawful, the fact that the person is discovered to be here illegally doesn’t get suppressed.  He will remain in custody until it is determined that he is he here lawfully, and if not, he will be transferred to federal custody to await deportation.  So the drugs, gun, and dead body might be suppressed and he won’t get convicted of murder, possession, etc., but he will get transferred to federal custody for deportation and removal proceedings because he wasn’t supposed to be here and he has no expectation of privacy because he shouldn’t be here in the first place.    

The same scenario would exist if the person was pulled over for merely driving with a busted taillight, speeding on his way to work, or making a minor traffic infraction.  He may beat the violation, but he won’t beat the deportation.  Those living in the country “out of status” are going to find themselves in living in paranoia out fear that an overzealous officer is going to have them and their family deported.   

Florida voters are polling in concert with Arizona’s and therefore changes to how the State handles immigration are not too far from the horizon.   Those eligible need to speak to an attorney and fix their status to keep from being subject to deportation and exclusion.  So often those that were eligible did not realize that they could have done something that would have prevented them from being deported.   Even Cubans who get convicted of crimes, while they are lawful permanent residents (and not citizens) could be deported when relations are “normalized” with the Cuban government.  In many cases they were eligible to convert their status to citizen and immunize themselves from deportation, but for whatever reason they did not do so in time. 

The window of opportunity to the land of opportunity is getting replaced with a bullet proof, shatter resistant, air-tight seal.  If you are not a citizen and your status could subject you to exclusion or deportation you need to talk to an immigration lawyer and discuss your options, sooner than later.