Arizona immigration law clears first legal hurdle

Because no migrants have yet been swept up by the new state immigration system, a federal judge said there is no material harm upon which to grant relief at this stage.PHOENIX (CN) — A federal judge cleared the way on Friday for an Arizona ballot initiative establishing “illegal entry from a foreign nation” as a state crime.U.S. District Judge Michael T. Liburdi dismissed a motion for temporary restraining order by a nonprofit that provides free legal services for detained migrants. He said the group failed to prove it has standing to challenge the ballot initiative.The Donald Trump appointee made his feelings clear not 10 minutes into the two-hour hearing.“You had an administration that left the border wide open for four years,” Liburdi said from his Phoenix courtroom. “Some people say 20 million people flooded through.”The Florence Immigration and Refugee Rights Program challenged section 5 of Proposition 314 — which took effect last week — under the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution. It argued creating a novel statewide immigration system giving state judges the power to order deportations would undermine the federal government, which typically exercises sole authority over immigration law.Staff attorney Kathryn Huddleston told Liburdi that the Florence Project has standing to challenge the law because it would be forced to expend additional resources to represent clients in both the federal and state facilities.Liburdi didn’t buy it.“Is it really the law that the state of Arizona or any other municipality is at the mercy of the Florence Immigration Project’s Budget when it wants to make new laws to change immigration policy?" he asked. “Your argument is that the voters of Arizona can’t approve a new immigration law because a Florence Project staff attorney has to put an extra tank of gas in their car?"“Some people might find that preposterous,” he said.Liburdi asked if nonprofits providing services to homeless people would have standing to sue the government for harm in the way of lost revenue if the government were to “magically eliminate homelessness.”Huddleston said such a law would not interfere with the core mission of such an organization, which would be eliminating homelessness, rendering the analogy incompatible.Huddleston added that enforcement of Proposition 314 would in many ways render the Florence Project unable to provide services to those swept up by the new state system, which includes no exceptions for those seeking asylum or other humanitarian protections available under federal law.Liburdi said those and other concerns aren’t concrete enough to provide relief on.“At this stage, the court finds that the plaintiff’s standing theory is based solely on speculation,” he said. “Any additional expenditures that plaintiff may incur do not resemble an interference with its core activities. Moreover, there is no demonstrable harm to existing clients, as section 5 of Proposition 314 applies prospectively only.”Arizona voters approved Proposition 314, now codified as A.R.S. 13-4295, with a 62% majority in 2024.Enforcement was initially blocked pending a Fifth Circuit decision on the legality of Texas’ Senate Bill 4, which shares similar language to the Arizona law.Sixty days after the Fifth Circuit reversed an order blocking the Texas law, Arizona’s took effect.In addition to giving local and state police the power to arrest those who cross the border outside a legal port of entry, Proposition 314 also prohibits immigrants without permanent legal status from applying for jobs or social benefits with false papers, allows state judges to order deportations, and establishes “lethal sale of fentanyl” as a new crime to crack down on the drug epidemic, which is often rhetorically tied to the border crisis.Activists fear that the new law will encourage racial profiling if police are told to patrol for people who don’t look like they’re citizens. Some have compared the potential impact to the days of SB1070 with its “show me your papers” provision, which sparked boycotts and travel bans that cost the state much-needed revenue.Florence Project attorney Oscar Roman told Liburdi it undermines the federal government’s discretion in how to enforce immigration law.But Brunn Roysdon, representing Republican legislative leaders Warren Petersen and Steve Montenegro, say the law only seeks to aid federal officials who don’t have the capacity to stop every person trying to cross the border.“How can section 5 interfere with federal discretion when these people never interact with federal officials?” he asked, concocting a hypothetical man in camouflage scaling the 30-foot border fence between ports of entry.He said the law is actually meant to support federal enforcement by funneling people back toward ports of entry under federal jurisdiction. Because it results in the same punishment — deportation — Roysdon said the law mirrors, not undermines, federal law.The Florence Project says the state would be able to arrest and deport those already allowed into the country under federal asylum law or those undergoing an official removal process. Roysden assured Liburdi that the state would not interfere with an ongoing federal proceeding.Though Liburdi denied the emergency restraining order motion, the plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction still pends before the court. The parties will meet again Aug. 5 to discuss next steps in the litigation.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads