Gov. Janice Brewer (R-AZ) this afternoon signed the controversial immigration bill passed by the state legislature.
“For weeks this legislation has been subject of vigorous debate and intense criticism, and my decision to sign was by no means made lightly,” she said after signing.
“Though many people disagree, I firmly believe it represents what’s best for Arizona,” she added. “There’s no higher priority than protecting the citizens of Arizona. We cannot sacrifice our safety to the murderous greed of drug cartels.”
The legislation requires law enforcement to demand immigration papers from anyone who they have a “reasonable suspicion” is in the country illegally.
In addition, she signed an executive order ordering a state police board to outline the necessary training for police officers under the new law.
She said she will not tolerate racial discrimination or profiling. Brewer also said she had worked with legislators to make sure the bill protects civil rights.
“We must enforce the law evenly and without regard to skin color, accent or social status,” she said, adding that the bill’s opponents are “over-reacting.”
An estimated 1,200 protesters, many of them students, gathered outside the Capitol to demonstrate against the bill.
She urged the law’s supporters and enforcers to be careful not to make “even the slightest misstep.”
“We must prove the alarmists and the cynics wrong,” she said.
President Obama condemned the legislation earlier today, saying the “recent efforts in Arizona … threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans.”
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) earlier this week called for a boycott of his home state if didn’t disavow the legislation, which he called “fundamentally racist.” Grijalva closed his Tucson office early today after receiving death threats.
He released a statement after the bill was signed calling on Obama to instruct federal agents not to cooperate with the Arizona law. Appearing later on MSNBC, he said, if this doesn’t provide an “impetus” for Congress to act on immigration reform, “We’re missing the whole point.”
Immigration activists and religious leaders, and even Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), had lobbied Brewer to veto the legislation.
Brewer, who was Arizona’s secretary of state, took over the governor’s office when Janet Napolitano was named Homeland Security Secretary. She is running for a full term this year.
Napolitano released a statement condemning the new law:
The Arizona immigration law will likely hinder federal law enforcement from carrying out its priorities of detaining and removing dangerous criminal aliens. With the strong support of state and local law enforcement, I vetoed several similar pieces of legislation as Governor of Arizona because they would have diverted critical law enforcement resources from the most serious threats to public safety and undermined the vital trust between local jurisdictions and the communities they serve. I support and am actively working with bipartisan members of Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level because this issue cannot be solved by a patchwork of inconsistent state laws.
