Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) has pledged to appeal the judge’s ruling against portions of her new immigration law, telling reporters today that it was “a little bump in the road.”
Brewer said “the federal government got relief from the courts to not do their job.” She said the federal government must “step up … and do the job that they have the responsibility to do for the people of America and the people of Arizona.”
In her official statement, Brewer said she was disappointed in the ruling. (Immigration advocacy groups said the ruling drives home the need for comprehensive immigration reform.)
“This fight is far from over. In fact, it is just the beginning, and at the end of what is certain to be a long legal struggle, Arizona will prevail in its right to protect our citizens,” she said.
From Brewer’s written statement:
For anyone willing to see it — the crisis is as clear as is the federal government’s failure to address it.
The judge herself noted that the stash houses where smugglers hide immigrants from Mexico before bringing them into the country’s interior have become a fixture on the news in Arizona and that, ‘You can barely go a day without a location being found in Phoenix where there are numerous people being harbored.’
When I signed the bill on April 23rd, I said, SB 1070 – represents another tool for our state to use as we work to address a crisis we did not create and the federal government has actively refused to fix. The law protects all of us, every Arizona citizen and everyone here in our state lawfully. And, it does so while ensuring that the constitutional rights of ALL in Arizona are undiminished – holding fast to the diversity that has made Arizona so great.
I will battle all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary, for the right to protect the citizens of Arizona. Meanwhile, I also know we still have work to do in confronting the fear-mongers, those dealing in hate and lies and economic boycotts that seek to do Arizona harm.
We have already made some progress in waking up Washington. But the question still remains: will Washington do its job, and put an end to the daily operations of smugglers in our nation, or will the delays and sidesteps continue? I believe that the defenders of the rule of law will ultimately succeed with us in our demand for action.
