Students in Tucson protest the new immigration bill (Arizona Daily Star photo)
As Evan Wyloge of the Arizona Capitol Times notes, here, the tribes say the law will violate their sovereignty and civil rights.
“Tribes have jurisdiction within their land, and state law doesn’t apply” John Lewis, says the council’s executive director. “And the law just doesn’t work in the interests of the American Indian population.”
As Wyloge writes:
A resolution passed by the tribal council on June 4 states that the new law would lead to disproportionate stops and detentions for tribal members, violate their sovereignty and negatively impact the tribal economy.
In their resolution, the group says long-accepted standards of tribal life would suddenly be incongruous with the new law.
Enforcement of the law would force many law officers to reach the “reasonable suspicion” of illegal status for a large portion of Native Americans, whose presence within the U.S. has never been in question, the resolution states.
It goes on to say that English has always been a second language for many Native Americans, some of whom don’t have birth certificates.
On May 24, the office of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer wrote to the Arizona Commission of Indian Affairs, seeking its cooperation and guidance with law enforcement in terms of the new law.
The Inter Tribal Council of Arizona plans to meet with the National Congress of American Indians next to work out a strategy for opposing the new law.
Gwen Florio
Tags: Arizona Commission of Indian Affairs, Arizona immigration law, buffalo post, Gov. Jan Brewer, Gwen Florio, Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, National Congress of American Indians, Native American news, Native American sovereignty, SB 1070
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