Immigrant rights advocates in Arizona won a huge victory today after the Supreme Court rejected the state’s continued attempt to deny bail to undocumented immigrants.
“In a brief order, the majority of the justices rejected a last-minute bid by Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery to give him a chance to salvage the 2006 voter-approved measure.”
Arizona voters approved Proposition 100 — handcrafted by former State Senator Russell Pearce, chief architect of the notorious, anti-immigrant SB1070 — in 2006, which denied bail to people suspected of being undocumented immigrants.
“Last year, however, a majority of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the law unconstitutional,” said the Arizona Daily Star.
Cecillia Wang, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, hailed today’s decision:
“Today’s order from the Supreme Court lets our victory over Proposition 100 stand. Arizona officials who tried to strip people of a bail hearing and the presumption of innocence have reached the end of the road. Laws that are driven by fear-mongering rather than facts are bad policy and violate everyone’s civil liberties.”
Today’s decision from the Supreme Court is just the latest in a string of victories for immigrants in Arizona this year.
Last month, the Arizona Board of Regents unanimously voted to grant DACA recipients in-state tuition at Arizona’s public universities. Just a few days beforehand, a Maricopa County Superior Court Judge had ruled that DACA recipients were eligible to pay in-state tuition at Maricopa County community colleges.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a key figure in Arizona’s anti-immigrant fights, is facing civil contempt charges in a searing trial that has made national headlines. Notably, Arpaio confessed to using his lawyer to hire a private detective to investigate the wife of the judge presiding over his case.
Read more on the Supreme Court’s decision to reject Arizona’s anti-immigrant Proposition 100 here.
