Brewer asks court to ignore Mexico's SB 1070 plea

A timely post from http://www.alipac.us/  about the Court challenge to Arizona's 1070. This follows this post about the 2010 midterm campaign. This follows this post about the border with Mexico and the Falcon Lake murder and this post which shows that there are 30,000 openly illegal immigrants in the border town of El Paso. For more that you can do to get involved click HERE!

Brewer asks court to ignore Mexico's SB 1070 plea



Saying its official have an ulterior motive, Gov. Jan Brewer asked a federal appeals court to ignore the pleas of the Mexican government to keep the state's immigration law from being enforced.



In legal papers filed Wednesday, Brewer said through her attorney that Mexico seeks a voice in the legal dispute over SB 1070 based on its contention that keeping Arizona out of the immigration business protects "consistent sovereign-to-sovereign relations'' between itself and the United States. The legal brief filed by Mexico also says the country has an interest in protecting the estimated 11 million of its citizens in this country.


Brewer asks court to ignore Mexico's SB 1070 plea



But Brewer told the judges that is a smokescreen.



"This court should consider Mexico's arguments in light of its true interest in this dispute, namely its desire for lax enforcement of United States immigration laws and ultimate amnesty for all of the Mexican nationals who are unlawfully present in the United States,'' attorney John Bouma wrote for the governor. She said the Mexican government is couching that instead in the guise of "comprehensive immigration reform.''



In fact, Brewer told Capitol Media Services that, if she had her way, there wouldn't be any brief for her to fight.



"Mexico and Latin America, I don't believe they belong in our courts,'' she said. "What they're trying to do is make sure our border is not secure.''



Brewer also poked fun at the Mexican government saying it was filing a "friend of the court'' brief.



"They're a friend of the president,'' the governor said, saying she believes it is Obama who giving Mexico the go-ahead to try to intercede in "an Arizona issue.''



"He gave (Mexican President Felipe) Calderon the forum of the Congress,'' Brewer said of Obama.



The case is technically between the U.S. Department of Justice, which opposes key provisions of SB 1070, and the state.



U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton in July agreed with the Obama administration's arguments that these sections of the state statute appear to be preempted by federal law and enjoined their enforcement. The hearing set for Nov. 1 in San Francisco is on Brewer's appeal of that injunction.



Mexico, along with other interested parties on both side of the issue, have filed "friend of the court'' briefs with their own perspectives.



Brewer said much of what Mexico is arguing involves the general importance of positive international relations as well as human and civil rights. And the governor said she does not dispute those principles.



"However, Mexico does not explain how either of these two issues are relevant to the issues before the court,'' the governor's legal filing said.



Specifically, Brewer wants to overturn Bolton's ruling against a section which requires police who have stopped people for any reason to check their immigration status if there is "reasonable suspicion'' they are in the country illegally. Other sections Bolton enjoined include forbidding police from releasing anyone they have arrested until that person's immigration status is determined, making it a violation of Arizona law for anyone not a citizen to fail to carry documentation and creating a new state crime for trying to secure work while not a legal resident.



"Instead, Mexico spends much of its brief engaging in unfounded speculation about the impact of SB 1070,'' Brewer said.



"Without any basis on the record, Mexico asserts that SB 1070 'will inevitably lead to harassment of Mexicans legally present in the U.S. and appearance-based arrests, giving Mexico justified cause for concern,' '' the governor said. She said that racial profiling is not an issue in this appeal, only the question of federal preemption.



As proof of Mexico's true interest, Brewer and Bouma cite a declaration of Otto Reich, a former ambassador under the Reagan administration and an assistant secretary of state in the administration of George W. Bush.



He said many foreign countries "would prefer to see the U.S. border remain as open as possible to allow the exportation of surplus labor.'' And Reich, in his declaration, said Latin American countries "favor amnesty so that those unlawfully present can continue to send money to their friends and family back home.''