Judge Hears First Motions on SB1070

Today in Phoenix, a federal court judge will hear the first motions in legal challenges to Arizona SB1070, the discriminatory immigration law scheduled to take effect July 29.

According to AZCentral.com, more than 150 protestors from both sides of the issue gathered outside the courthouse this morning as Judge Susan Bolton prepared to take the bench. Bolton could rule on the challenges before her as early as today -- which might decide whether the legislation becomes the law of the land next Thursday or not.

A suit filed by the ACLU, and supported by Ms. Foundation grantee Legal Momentum, is the largest of the challenges Bolton will hear in terms of number of plaintiffs; the federal government will also present its case against SB1070 later this afternoon.

Since news of this legislation broke, it's been clear that immigrant women and children will have a special stake in seeing this law defeated. In conjunction with their other efforts to relegate SB1070 to history's dustbin, Legal Momentum has now contributed a much needed report on women and immigration reform. Written by Senior Staff Attorney Kavitha Sreeharsha, Reforming America’s Immigration Laws: A Women’s Struggle [pdf] offers an in-depth analysis of how lack of equal economic opportunity and exposure to various forms of exploitation puts women immigrants precipitously at risk, and calls for "comprehensive reform that considers how even [seemingly] gender-neutral laws create more hardship for immigrant women."

Keep informed about what happens in Arizona over the next few days; for the people of that state, everything is on the line.