A number of Boston University students said an Arizona immigration law, created in 2010 and taken to the Supreme Court for claims of unconstitutionality Wednesday, is unfair.
“I can see aspects of it that might be beneficial to kind of lowering crime rates,” said College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Vlad Solomon, “but at the same time it doesn’t justify pulling over people that may or may not look like they may be illegal immigrants.”
On Wednesday, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr., representing the federal government, urged the court to strike down part of Arizona’s 2010 immigration law, according to a Wednesday New York Times article. The provision allows law enforcement officials to look into the immigration status of people they stop and suspect to be illegal immigrants.
More than two-thirds of registered voters, about 68 percent, approved of the law, according to a Quinnipiac University poll that was published April 20.
“The Constitution vests exclusive authority over immigration matters with the national government,” Verrilli Jr. said to the Times.
The multi-part law includes a provision that deems it a crime for illegal immigrants to work, according to the Times. The court’s ruling is expected by June and may be a split decision upholding parts of the law and striking down others.
The bill was intended to work with federal immigration laws to further stem the flow of illegal immigrants crossing into Arizona, according to a legislative analysis by the Federation for American Immigration Reform published April 27, 2010, four days after Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed the bill into law.
Solomon, a Romanian immigrant, said he thinks the Supreme Court will vote against it, and he personally would not feel comfortable if pulled over and asked to show papers based upon his look or the way he dressed.
School of Hospitality and Administration freshman Kathryn Ong said the law’s approval depends on who is in the Supreme Court.
“I definitely think that there are a lot of illegal immigrants in the United States, and I guess that it’s important that people look into that,” Ong said.
However, Ong said the law raises a lot of racial prejudice issues.
“I hope that they will understand that this will raise a lot of issues between the states and between people in general. It’ll cause a big rift between cultures,” she said. “It might bring back a lot of that segregation between people because people really would feel attacked.”
CAS freshman Joe Filippone said it is not right that police can go up to anybody and request identification.
“I think it’s not really fair to the citizens of Arizona,” he said. “I understand why they did it because they want to keep our country safe, but I don’t think it’s a big enough threat for some rights to be overlooked.”
