Protests have already begun in Arizona against a new anti-immigrant law that went into effect at midnight. Four protesters brought downtown Phoenix to a standstill Wednesday night after scaling a construction crane to unfurl a large banner reading “Stop Hate.” While major protests against the law are planned for today, celebrations were held yesterday in parts of the state after a federal judge blocked key parts of the law, hours before it went effect. The parts of the law blocked included a provision that would have required police officers to stop and interrogate anyone they suspect is an undocumented immigrant. The ruling came in response to an injunction requested by the Obama administration which argued in a lawsuit that the law was unconstitutional and warned the provisions would result in racial profiling. Many residents of Arizona say the law would target Latinos.

Tom Sjoberg: “My reaction is that this is unfair persecution of one of Arizona’s most abused minorities, and my mother put it best years ago when she said the time to send people packing is before they’ve cleaned your house, cooked your food, taken care of your elders for twenty years, not after. So, Arizona’s on the wrong side of this.”

The author of the Arizona bill, State Senator Russell Pearce, was asked Wednesday if he felt the federal judge’s ruling would stand.

Russell Pearce: “No, absolutely not. We’ll win on appeal. And this is a road — this is a bump. And again, the policies for restrictions — sanctuary policies are gone. They’re illegal as of Thursday. The handcuffs come off the law enforcer. They have all the latitude they need to ask. That hasn’t been changed. Any of her decision didn’t change anything. And under Federal Law 8 USC 1304, 1306, it’s a law to carry your indicia with you or your visa, your I-19, your password, your I-9. That’s the law. They can enforce federal law.”