Top 10 immigration stories for 2011

It has been an exciting immigration year. I reviewed the ImmigrationProf blog postings for the year and came up with my top 10 immigration and immigration-related stories in the United States.

1. Supreme Court to review Arizona’s S.B. 1070

The US Supreme Court has decided to review Arizona’s controversial immigration law known as S.B. 1070. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a preliminary injunction barring implementation of four core provisions of the Arizona law, including the section that would require local police to verify the immigration status of anyone they had a “reasonable suspicion” of believing is undocumented. Opponents of the law have claimed that its implementation would, among other things, increase the racial profiling of Latinos.

2. US Department of Justice finds that Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Maricopa County Sheriff Office violated civil rights of Latinos and immigrants

Sheriff Joe Arpaio has been dubbed “America’s Toughest Sheriff,” but he has been criticized on many occasions for violating the civil rights of Latinos and immigrants. Earlier this month, the US Department of Justice issued a detailed report finding, based on a thorough investigation, that the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona had engaged in a pattern and practice of “unconstitutional policing” and violated the civil rights of Latinos and immigrants in police stops and the conditions of detention. Read the report documenting the violations. It is troubling that such lawlessness could go on for so long.

3. Obama administration sets another deportation record

The Obama administration, pursuing its “enforcement now, enforcement forever” deportation policy set another removal record for the fiscal year of nearly 400,000. Last year's record-setting number of removals made the list of top immigration news stories for 2010.

4. The Obama administration unveils “prosecutorial discretion” guidelines and promises to review all open removal cases to ensure that they are priority cases

Provoking criticism from advocates of greater immigration enforcement, the Obama administration issued new prosecutorial discretion guidelines. In a surprising move, the administration also called for the review of hundreds of thousands of removal cases to see if they deserve priority treatment under the new guidelines. Implementation has been spotty with many undocumented immigrants uncertain of where they stand.

5. Alabama passes toughest state immigration law: Georgia, South Carolina also follow Arizona’s lead

Consistent with its checkered civil rights history, the Alabama legislature in June passed what its supporters claimed was the "toughest" state immigration law in the United States, no small feat with state after state seeking to earn that “honor.” Georgia and South Carolina also have Arizona-like immigration laws, which have been subject to legal challenge. The US government's challenge to the Alabama law is pending in the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

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