Ways to Take Action on SB1070

Write a Letter to the Editor

Urge your governor to denounce SB 1070. Use our sample letter (attached) to draw attention to
this important issue in your local newspaper.

Send a Letter to Your Senators

Use our sample letter (attached) to urge your Senators to work toward a fair and humane
immigration system.

Make Some Noise on July 29th

Many national and local organizations are planning activities for July 29 th, the day SB 1070 is to
go into effect in Arizona. Participating organizations include Derechos Humanos, No More
Deaths, and Detention Watch Network.

Amnesty International is a grassroots organization with 2.8 million members worldwide working to promote and defend human
rights. For more information, contact Government Relations Director Sarah Burns at 202-544-0200, or visit www.aiusa.org
Amnesty International USA Media Release
For Immediate Release
Friday, April 30, 2010

Amnesty International USA Voices Serious Concerns about Federal

Immigration Proposal Priorities

Contact: AIUSA media office, 202-509-8194

(Washington, DC) Amnesty International USA voiced serious concerns today regarding priorities
for a comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) bill proposed by U.S. Senators Majority Leader
Harry Reid (D-NV), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and
Robert Menendez (D-NJ). A draft version of the bill summary touts increased border patrol,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel and penalties for immigration status-
related crimes. However, it pays little attention to long-needed reform of ICE's unnecessary
home-invasion style enforcement operations, targeting and often terrorizing undocumented
persons.

"The senators' get- tough language fails to recognize that an end to the ongoing human rights
violations in immigration enforcement practices and a vigorous defense of human rights is an
essential component of true immigration 'reform’”, said Lory D. Rosenberg, interim policy and
advocacy director for Amnesty International USA's refugee and migrants' rights program.

“Immigration reform is desperately needed in the United States,” said Rosenberg. “Reform
measures cannot however flout fundamental human rights such as liberty and equality before
the law. The increased enforcement provisions portend for a virtual tsunami in mandatory
detentions, which lock people up without the right to a bond hearing, in direct violation of
fundamental human rights."

The bill summary emphasizes aggressive identification and expulsion of broad categories of
immigrants and refugees, including those found in federal, state or local prisons, those who
enter or reenter unlawfully, and those believed to have 'gang' connections. Absent from these
provisions is any consideration of a person’s individual circumstances, including the amount of
time living in the U.S., presence of family members, community ties and employment history.
Amnesty International is a grassroots organization with 2.8 million members worldwide working to promote and defend human
rights. For more information, contact Government Relations Director Sarah Burns at 202-544-0200, or visit www.aiusa.org
Without necessary safeguards and individual, case-by-case determinations, broad gang
provisions that may require only an association may be used to deport immigrants and asylum
seekers who often are marginalized from the workforce and forced to live in neighborhoods
plagued by gang violence.

Additional measures to combat unlawful immigration include increased punishment and prison
sentences for fraud, misrepresentation, and other violations of immigration law, again
regardless of circumstances, which could result in the imprisonment of asylum seekers who use
fake passports to flee persecution.

The broad sweep of prisons contemplated by the bill summary will indiscriminately pull in both
those held for minor traffic violations and serious violent criminals. What is more, despite an
extremely unfavorable report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of
Inspector General (OIG) imposing more than 30 corrective recommendations on the 287(g)
program that have not been made, the bill summary perpetuates the inappropriately designed
state-federal enforcement programs, such as 287(g), which has received constant criticism for
its disregard of obligatory human rights protections as well as its flagrant civil rights and
liberties abuses.

"These escalated enforcement measures would be implemented in the present climate of

inefficient and often out-of-control ICE arrest and detention operations, vastly increasing the
number of immigrants and asylum seekers subject to mandatory detention and denied
meaningful access to family, community or counsel to represent their rights in the courts," said
Rosenberg.

Amnesty International USA calls on Congress to craft a fair and humane immigration policy that:

 Provides a formal process through which undocumented people can obtain legal status. A
legalization scheme can make a significant contribution towards protecting immigrants’
rights, particularly in reducing labor exploitation and promoting social cohesion.

 Reforms immigration policies that unnecessarily separate families. Immigration judges

should have the authority to review all decisions to detain immigrants and the discretion to
stop deportation in the interest of family unity. To ensure fairness, these decisions should
be subject to federal court review.

 Fully guarantees immigrant workers’ labor rights, including the right to join unions.

 Focuses on protecting the rights of immigrants most at risk of human rights violations,
including undocumented immigrants, immigrant women and immigrant children.

Amnesty International is a grassroots organization with 2.8 million members worldwide working to promote and defend human
rights. For more information, contact Government Relations Director Sarah Burns at 202-544-0200, or visit www.aiusa.org
 Restores immigration enforcement responsibilities exclusively to federal authorities and
terminates unconstitutional state and local law enforcement programs and state laws
purporting to enforce immigration standards.

 Places immigrants and their communities at the center of the debate on immigration by
recognizing and ensuring their role in formulating and implementing strategies to protect
their rights.

"Neither the U.S. Constitution nor international law permits the arbitrary penalization of entire
communities,” said Rosenberg. “Appropriate safeguards against unwarranted, arbitrary
detention and expedited deportation are critical if the reform legislation is to achieve its goal of
bringing undocumented immigrants out of the shadows so they can be properly screened and
registered by the authorities and welcomed into U.S. society."

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more
than 2.8 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning
for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and
mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity
are denied.

###

For more information, please visit: www.amnestyusa.org.

Amnesty International is a grassroots organization with 2.8 million members worldwide working to promote and defend human
rights. For more information, contact Government Relations Director Sarah Burns at 202-544-0200, or visit www.aiusa.org
 Arizona Immigration Law (SB1070)
Main Messages and Talking Points

SB1070 empowers police officers to stop and interrogate any individual in the state regarding
his or her lawful immigration status or citizenship, and makes it a crime to fail to carry
identifying documents in Arizona.

 The law requires any person about whom the police have a “reasonable suspicion” to
produce documents proving that s/he is legally in the US.
 The law has no safeguards against racial profiling; a “reasonable suspicion” cannot be
formed without resorting to racial profiling.
 The law increases the likelihood of arbitrary arrest and detention.
 The law provides that a person who does not produce documents establishing that she
is in the country in a legal immigration status shall be criminally prosecuted, jailed and
turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to face deportation charges.

Discrimination through racial profiling is an assault on the very notion of human rights.

 International law guarantees human rights to all without distinctions based on race,
color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin,
property, birth or other status.
 All human beings, whether citizens of the state in which they live or not, have human
rights.
 The right to be free from discrimination is the cornerstone of the enjoyment of other
fundamental human rights.
 To be deprived of one’s rights because of a characteristic that one cannot change – such
as one’s race or ethnicity – or because of a characteristic that is so central to one’s being
that one should not be forced to change it -- such as religion – violates the principles at
the very core of human rights.
 Using race, color, ethnicity, religion or nationality as a proxy for criminal suspicion
violates international standards against racial discrimination and treaties to which the
U.S. is a party, including the UN Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.
Amnesty International is a grassroots organization with 2.8 million members worldwide working to promote and defend human
rights. For more information, contact Government Relations Director Sarah Burns at 202-544-0200, or visit www.aiusa.org
  Discrimination in law enforcement can mean that certain groups are viewed by the
authorities as “potential criminals” and so are more likely to be arrested and
imprisoned. It can also mean that they are more likely to suffer harsher treatment once
in the criminal justice system.
 Stopping, arresting, interrogating and prosecuting a person arbitrarily, based on racial
profiling, are all human rights violations.
 Racial profiling contributes to a climate of discrimination that indirectly encourages hate
crimes against certain groups and people perceived to belong to those groups.

Human rights exist regardless of nationality, ethnicity or immigration status. In passing

SB1070, Arizona public officials have ignored this truth to the detriment of every individual
who passes through the state.

 By forcing Arizona police, the vast majority of whom opposed this law, to implement it
or face being sued themselves, is bad policy and will drastically undermine
communication between communities of color and the police who are supposed to keep
them safe.
 As Governor Brewer said when signing the bill, national immigration legislation is
desperately needed, but the absence of immigration reform does not abdicate the
governor’s own responsibility to preserve, promote, and protect the human rights of
every individual in Arizona, whether citizen, resident, or visitor.

Amnesty International USA calls on Congress to craft a fair and humane immigration policy
that:

 Provides a formal process through which undocumented people can obtain legal status.
A legalization scheme can make a significant contribution towards protecting
immigrants’ rights, particularly in reducing labor exploitation and promoting social
cohesion.
 Reforms immigration policies that unnecessarily separate families. Immigration judges
should have the authority to review all decisions to detain immigrants and the discretion
to stop deportation in the interest of family unity. To ensure fairness, these decisions
should be subject to federal court review.
 Provides safeguards against arbitrary and unfair detention.
 Fully guarantees immigrant workers’ labor rights, including the right to join unions.
 Focuses on protecting the rights of immigrants most at risk of human rights violations,
including undocumented immigrants, immigrant women and immigrant children.
 Restores immigration enforcement responsibilities exclusively to federal authorities and
terminates unconstitutional state and local law enforcement programs and state laws
purporting to enforce immigration standards.
 Places immigrants and their communities at the center of the debate on immigration by
recognizing and ensuring their role in formulating and implementing strategies to
protect their rights.

Amnesty International is a grassroots organization with 2.8 million members worldwide working to promote and defend human
rights. For more information, contact Government Relations Director Sarah Burns at 202-544-0200, or visit www.aiusa.org
 Questions and Answers on Arizona’s Immigration Law:
Countering Common Arguments

Introduction

SB1070 empowers police officers in Arizona to require any individual whom they reasonably
suspect of not having a lawful immigration status to produce identifying documents proving
that s/he is legally in the U.S. The law provides that a person who does not produce
documents establishing that she is in the country in a legal immigration status shall be
criminally prosecuted, jailed and turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to
face deportation charges.

Questions and responses

Hasn’t it always been against the law to enter the United States and live and work here
without proper papers?

It’s not just a question of whether a person is here lawfully or is undocumented. The laws
that apply to whether a person is entitled to be in the United States are federal laws that
are supposed to be written by Congress, not by the states. Otherwise, we could have 50
different versions of what is meant by “breaking the law.” Amnesty International’s concern
arises because Arizona has passed a law that heightens the risk of arbitrary treatment of
non-citizens and increases the possibility that the international human rights protections
that the United States is bound to follow will be disregarded.

People who are in a foreign country should know better than to walk around without
their passports or documents proving who they are and what they are doing in that
country. Why would anyone who is here lawfully not carry their papers with them?

The people who can be stopped based on “reasonable suspicion” under the Arizona law
include more than only undocumented immigrants. They could be people who are in the
process of applying for lawful permanent residence in the United States, asylum seekers,
and victims of torture or human trafficking. They could be people who have strong
citizenship claims.

Amnesty International is a grassroots organization with 2.8 million members worldwide working to promote and defend human
rights. For more information, contact Government Relations Director Sarah Burns at 202-544-0200, or visit www.aiusa.org
 Applicants for lawful status in the United States very often are not given much more than a
small card stating they can accept employment or a blurred stamp in their passport. If the
period of time has expired while a person is awaiting an extension of a temporary
authorization or an interim approval, they will not have any current documentation. So
even if they are carrying their papers, they won’t have current documentation, and yet they
can be criminally charged with trespass in Arizona.

Those with pending cases in immigration court often have no documents while their cases
are being heard – a process that can take months and sometimes years. Others who are
eligible for lawful immigration status may not even have had the opportunity to submit an
application at the time they are the subject of “reasonable suspicion” by the Arizona police,
and yet they also will be charged with the crime of trespass. Amnesty International is
concerned that Arizona will be unfairly arresting, detaining, prosecuting, and abusing the
liberty interests of people who are being processed or eligible to be processed through the
federal immigration system.

What’s wrong with having the police stop and question someone briefly? If police can’t
check into a person’s immigration status, how can the federal government enforce
immigration laws? What about those who have committed crimes?

The U.S. has always upheld the importance of privacy rights, and the U.S. Constitution
protects every person – no matter whether they are a citizen of the U.S. or of another
country – from unwarranted searches and seizures, including questioning and interrogation
by the police, except in certain circumstances where a risk of danger exists.

While it is true that some noncitizens who have committed serious crimes may be in the
United States without proper documents, the vast majority of persons without documents
have not committed serious crimes and pose no threat to society whatsoever.
Furthermore, state law enforcement and the FBI are well-equipped to pursue people who
are suspected of actual criminal activity under existing state and federal criminal codes.

Amnesty International disagrees with the notion that anyone in the country without
documents is necessarily a dangerous or violent criminal and therefore poses a danger to
our society. In fact, international treaties such as the Refugee Convention provide that we
must allow asylum seekers to apply for protection and that we may not punish them for
crossing our borders during their flight from persecution.

How does Arizona’s “reasonable suspicion” standard violate people’s human rights?

The “reasonable suspicion” standard is difficult to apply because it is not supposed to take
into account factors that are associated with racial profiling. And yet, what other factors
will the police have in front of them besides a person’s skin color, accent, or other ethnic or
national feature when they decide to ask a person for his papers to prove his lawful
Amnesty International is a grassroots organization with 2.8 million members worldwide working to promote and defend human
rights. For more information, contact Government Relations Director Sarah Burns at 202-544-0200, or visit www.aiusa.org
 immigration status? The law allows the police to form a reasonable suspicion based on
facts that arise while they are addressing some other violation of state, local or municipal
law. In Arizona, such violations could include occupancy of more than a certain number of
people in an apartment or having one’s car parked outside on the street for more than 72
hours. These are examples of scenarios in which police would potentially ask for
documentation.

In terms of international law, using race, color, ethnicity, religion or nationality as a proxy
for criminal suspicion violates international standards against racial discrimination and
treaties to which the U.S. is a party, including the UN Convention for the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.

Amnesty International is a grassroots organization with 2.8 million members worldwide working to promote and defend human
rights. For more information, contact Government Relations Director Sarah Burns at 202-544-0200, or visit www.aiusa.org
Sample Letter to the Editor on the Arizona Immigration Law (SB1070)

Dear Editor:

I am outraged that Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has joined a friend-of-the-court brief
supporting Arizona law SB1070. Arizona's latest immigration law will inevitably increase racial
profiling, arbitrary arrests and detentions in the state. The law is both cruel and misguided.
Arizona governor Jan Brewer abdicated her responsibility to protect the human rights of every
individual in Arizona, not just those who look ‘American.’

A vast majority of police officers in Arizona opposed the bill, fearing that enforcement will
drastically undermine their communication with communities of color, thereby placing not only
these communities, but all Arizonans, in greater jeopardy.

As an Amnesty International member/supporter, I believe human rights exist regardless of

nationality, ethnicity or immigration status. Governor Brewer ignored this truth to the
detriment of every individual who passes through or lives in the state. This law does not reflect
my views as a resident of Virginia. I urge Governor McDonnell to publicly denounce this law and
ensure that we do not follow this cruel path.

Sincerely,
Name
Amnesty International

Amnesty International is a grassroots organization with 2.8 million members worldwide working to promote and defend human
rights. For more information, contact Government Relations Director Sarah Burns at 202-544-0200, or visit www.aiusa.org
 Sample Letter to Your Senators
Call for a Humane Immigration System!

Dear Senator ________________,

I am outraged that Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has joined a friend-of-the-court brief
supporting Arizona law SB1070. SB1070 empowers police officers to stop and interrogate any
individual in the state regarding his or her citizenship status and makes it a crime to be an
undocumented person in Arizona. If a person does not immediately present documents proving
that he or she is legally in the US, s/he may be criminally prosecuted for trespassing, jailed, and
turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation.

The bill contains no safeguards against racial profiling and increases the likelihood of arbitrary
arrest and detention. These are all human rights violations. Human rights exist regardless of
nationality, ethnicity or immigration status. In passing SB1070, Arizona public officials have
ignored this truth to the detriment of every individual who passes through the state.

As Governor Brewer said when signing the bill, national immigration legislation is desperately
needed. However, the absence of comprehensive immigration reform does not excuse the
governor’s own responsibility to preserve, promote, and protect the human rights of every
individual in Arizona, whether citizen, resident, or visitor.

Our immigration system is broken. We urgently need a humane immigration system that
respects human rights now. Unfair and arbitrary enforcement that is unrelated to the real
needs of our communities and to safety, that disregards family ties, that is arbitrary and out of
proportion—all of which describes the Arizona law —must stop. I urge you to restore sanity to
the system, and to ensure that the human rights of immigrants and refugees are respected in
the U.S. and especially in Virginia.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.

Sincerely,

Amnesty International is a grassroots organization with 2.8 million members worldwide working to promote and defend human
rights. For more information, contact Government Relations Director Sarah Burns at 202-544-0200, or visit www.aiusa.org