SB1070 defense fund hits $500,000
PHOENIX - Donations to a special fund to help Arizona pay to defend its immigration enforcement law now total roughly $500,000, with more than half of the contributions made as the federal government sued to challenge the law.
The U.S. Justice Department filed its suit Tuesday in federal court in Phoenix. A document obtained by The Associated Press from Gov. Jan Brewer's office showed that 7,008 of the 9,057 contributions submitted to the fund's website by Thursday morning were made in the days following the government's filing.
With the federal lawsuit, the law enacted in April and set to take effect July 29 is now the subject of six lawsuits now pending in federal court. Other plaintiffs include civil rights groups, individuals and several Arizona municipalities.
The sweeping Arizona law's provisions include a requirement that police enforcing another law must investigate the immigration status of people if there is ``reasonable suspicion'' to believe the people are in the United States illegally.
Brewer and other supporters say the law will prompt illegal immigrants to leave the state and that state action was required by a failure of the federal government to secure the border.
Opponents say the law will promote racial profiling and is unconstitutional because regulating immigration is reserved for the federal government.
Brewer established the Governor's Border Security and Immigration Legal Defense Fund with a May 26 executive order. Her office said the state had received about $10,000 in unsolicited donations from people in dozens of states by then.
According to information released by Brewer's office, contributions to the website accounted for about 85 percent of the total donations, while others were received by mail.
Website contributions came from all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, but nearly 2,000 of the website contributions came from within Arizona. Donations ranged from $5 to $2,000, with the vast majority between $10 and $100.
Donors contacted by the AP said they contributed because the federal government should be helping Arizona, not taking the state to court.
``Arizona needs our help,'' said Mary Ann Rode, a retired municipal worker who lives in Rialto, Calif. ``It's a disgrace what our government is doing.''
Rohde said she and her husband donated $20.
Howard E. Sanner, of Houston, said Arizona's approval of its law should help prod the federal government to act on border security to help prevent criminals and terrorists from entering the country illegally.
``It's just a mess that has to be straightened out,'' said Sanner, a retired clothing and linen salesman who supports legal immigration and donated $5 to the fund.
It's unclear what the state's legal costs will be in defending the law. It includes a provision authorizing Brewer to direct that effort.
The Phoenix-based law firm Snell & Wilmer has been hired by Brewer to represent the state in the pending challenges. The head of the firm told a federal judge Wednesday that its lawyers were working late into the evening to respond to all the filings in the cases.
Citing the crush of filings in the case, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton has imposed limits on the size of so-called ``friend of the court'' briefs filed by groups in support or opposition to the law.
Arizona's Democratic attorney general, Terry Goddard, had opposed the legislation but said he was willing to do his duty to defend the state law. He has agreed to a request from Brewer to withdraw from the state's defense after Brewer questioned his sincerity.
Online:
www.azgovernor.gov/AZBorderSecurity.asp