Statement Regarding SB1070 Decision from Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu

“Incredibly, even though there is not one person who can legitimately claim to be harmed by a law that has not even taken effect, the result of an injunction is de facto amnesty through non-enforcement of laws against illegal immigration."

"It's a sad day in America when our own president has directed his attorney general to provide terrorist Miranda rights, yet fights to deny law enforcement the very tools needed to determine if an illegal is in America legally. Why has the President not come to Arizona to personally inspect the threat that our citizens face?"

"This is our most serious public safety issue and a national security threat to America. President Obama seems to have won the initial legal battle on the basis of the supremacy clause, saying it is inherently his job to enforce immigration law. We in Arizona could not agree more that it is his job and we demand that he do his job and protect our state, rather than continuing to fight us in court."

Statement regarding SB 1070 from Pinal County Chairman Pete Rios

"Our form of government works again, as evidenced by the federal court's decision to issue a preliminary injunction against troubling sections of SB 1070," stated Pinal County District 1 Supervisor Pete Rios.

"The Judicial branch of government has temporarily stopped the Legislative and Executive branches of the state of Arizona from encroaching on federal jurisdiction and taking a piece-meal approach to our country's immigration problem. Although I fully acknowledge that we have a major immigration problem in this country, we can only have one quarterback, and that is the U.S. government. We can only have one immigration policy and not 50, I urge Congress get off their rear ends and do something!" added Supervisor Rios.

Statement from Pinal County Attorney James P. Walsh

Today’s decision by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton blocked key provisions of Arizona’s new criminal immigration law, popularly know as SB 1070, while allowing other portions of SB 1070 to go into effect tomorrow.
 
The key provisions which cannot be enforced unless the Court’s ruling is changed or overruled include the new state crimes of failing to complete or carry an alien registration card and trying to secure work while not a legal resident.

The basis for the ruling was that the enjoined parts of the new law were in an area preempted by federal law. The Court’s Preliminary Injunction will remain in effect until a trial on the merits unless it is appealed by the State of Arizona in which case the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals could reverse, uphold or modify the decision.
 
On July 6, I issued a statement on the filing of the federal lawsuit challenging SB 1070 which stated that I welcomed the filing of the federal lawsuit because it would lead to an answer about what could be enforced constitutionally before the law was to go into effect tomorrow, July 29. This has been construed by some to mean that I opposed SB 1070.
 
As an elected official, I am bound by my oath to enforce the laws passed by the legislature, but also to uphold the Constitution of the United States. I intend to carry out these sworn duties with great care and the utmost integrity.