Arizona's Governor Signs Tough Immigration Law; Latest on Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico
JOHN KING, HOST: Thanks, Suzanne. Some Republicans are saying I told you so as the Obama administration releases a new report that shows health care costs will go up, not down as the president promised, but our "Lead" tonight a developing story out in Arizona and across the country. Arizona's governor tonight signs a tough new immigration law, it gives police new powers they say they need, but the president of the United States is among those who says this law is misguided. We will break down the specifics of the Arizona law, the policy debate and the political debate that stretches from Phoenix all the way to right here in Washington. In "Wall-to-Wall" tonight, you've seen some of the pictures, we'll give you the latest on this dramatic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the environmental damage making its way toward shore, tonight the Coast Guard has called off the search for the workers who are missing, what coast might get hit? What will the environmental impact be? We will show you. And it's Friday so you get to "Make Your Case". We have asked you all week what makes you mad about your government, what makes you frustrated? We'll also listen to your solutions. And in our "Play-by-Play", you won't want to miss this. We'll break down the tape that Sarah Palin gives us a flash back, what during the campaign made her turn to John McCain's senior advisors and say, chill? Arizona's governor signed a tough new law tonight designed to crack down on illegal immigration. And as she was making her announcement, there was word of a shoot-out just south of the border in which seven people, six of them police officers were killed, a reminder if we needed one that illegal immigration and the separate but related challenge of cross border drug violence raise tough policy choices and stoked the rawest of raw politics. We have a great panel with us tonight to debate the pros and cons of both the Arizona law and the coming national immigration reform conversation, but first let's set the table. To hear Arizona Governor Jan Brewer tonight, she had no choice.</s>GOV. JAN BREWER (R), ARIZONA: We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act. But decades of federal inaction and misguided policy have created a dangerous and unacceptable situation.</s>KING: The new law has some tough provisions that require police to determine if a person's status, if there's reasonable suspicion they could be here illegally. It allows police to be arrested people who are unable to produce proof they are in the United States illegally -- legally -- excuse me -- and allows citizens to sue if the law isn't enforced. Immigration rights and Latino groups, some of them, demonstrating even as the governor signed the law call it discriminatory, unconstitutional. They promised to challenge it in the courts and earlier Friday the president of the United States appeared to take their side.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others. And that includes for example the recent efforts in Arizona which threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe. In fact I've instructed members of our administration to closely monitor the situation and examine the civil rights and other implications of this legislation, but if we continue to fail to act at a federal level, we will continue to see misguided efforts opening up around the country.</s>KING: A better solution Mr. Obama says is a sweeping new federal law that toughens border protections, but also grants a path to legal status to millions of illegal immigrants already in the United States. That's a tough sell any time. Just ask George W. Bush or John McCain for that matter, an especially tough sell in an already heated election year. So let's break down the new policy terrain and the crackling political environment with four people who know it well. Grover Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform and a leaning conservative activist who has warned Republicans not to alienate the growing Latino population. Adolfo Franco is a Republican strategist who advised Senator McCain's presidential campaign on Hispanic outreach and Latin American policy. Frank Sharry is founder and executive director of America's Voice, an immigration advocacy group that shares the president's views. And Maria Cardona is a Democratic strategist who has advised Hillary Clinton and served as communications director for the Democratic National Committee, a varied group of voices here. Let me start with a show of hands, does anyone here think this Arizona law is a good idea? That's four no's</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Half.</s>KING: Why?</s>ADOLFO FRANCO, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well if I could, first of all we haven't really seen the details John on this. There's been a quantum leap made here about racial profiling. There isn't any indication that will be the case. We need to see how the actual law will be enforced. What the law says is if there's an incident that warrants first of all police inquiry, followed by reasonable suspicion then additional steps can be taken to see if the person is legally in our country and that is enforcing our laws.</s>KING: Now Maria you're shaking your head -- shaking your head, but to the point, to the point -- I have the law right here. I have the law right here. And the governor -- actually let's listen to the governor first -- the governor made very clear -- the governor was quite forceful actually in her language saying that she studied this. She listened to all sides. Let's listen to Governor Brewer saying this is not, not racial profiling.</s>BREWER: Let me be clear, though, my signature today represents my steadfast support for enforcing the law, both against illegal immigration and against racial profiling. This legislation mirrors federal laws regarding immigration enforcement. Despite erroneous and misleading statements suggesting otherwise, the new state misdemeanor crime of willful failure to complete or carry an alien registration document is adopted verbatim from the same offense found in federal statute.</s>KING: Now here's the law, it's only 17 pages; it's pretty easy to read. Where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States, but only, only after a lawful contact made by a law enforcement official or agency of this state, county, city, town or other political subdivisions.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.</s>KING: So if -- you're both -- you're both shaking your head?</s>FRANK SHARRY, EXECUTIVE DIR., AMERICA'S VOICE: OK, John, you know when people say it's not about the money and it is about money, the governor was saying it's not about racial profiling. There's no way to tell who's an illegal immigrant. How do you -- who's suspect? If John King and Juan Ray (ph) are both in a traffic stop, who do you think the police are going to reasonably suspect of being here illegally? This institutionalizes racial profiling. This is an invitation -- most cops</s>MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: John, racial profiling which is illegal right now and still exists, law enforcement officers engage in rainfall profiling, that is a fact. This law gives them basically permission to engage in racial profiling and they have that exact line that you just read as a defense. What does it mean to have a suspicion that somebody is in the country illegally? That they're speaking Spanish, that they're eating tacos, if they're listening to Spanish language television -- I could go down to Arizona and speak Spanish and not have my license and be arrested.</s>KING: I know you don't like the law, but is it the specifics of the legal language or is it the tone that you don't like?</s>GROVER NORQUIST, PRES., AMERICANS FOR TAX REFORM: Well there are several challenges. One is you worry about the tone and how people present these things in particularly some of the politicians have been out talking. But also, this bill doesn't just go after people who don't have papers, this goes after every employer in the state, this is a bill aimed at small businessmen. It requires all sorts of paperwork. It threatens them with all sorts of government actions if they hire someone and they haven't demanded papers. I'm a little bit concerned about this idea that we're going to look like some World War II movie where people are always demanding to see your papers when you get on and off the train or in or out of a car. I don't quite understand how they're going to decide whether somebody deserves to be suspected or how you decide how you're going to demand to see papers -- are we going carry papers with us? How is this going to work?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, in many ways we need to carry papers with us, but the example of --</s>KING: We do need to carry a driver's license.</s>FRANCO: We do, the example of the stop, which is</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.</s>FRANCO: You need to have a registration; you need to have a driver's license. In other words, just because someone is stopped doesn't give anyone license to have racial profiling, it gives stop to the next level, which is, is there reasonable suspicion this person is disoriented, can't state where they're from, does not have a domicile, does not have an address or a driver's license, then you take it to the next step. It is illegal to be in the United States under certain circumstances and this is what this is addressing. So I think the governor is right, Washington has failed to act. The president has failed to act. He has not made it his priority and that has led to Arizona taking it into its own hands.</s>KING: Let me call a quick time-out. We're going to continue the conversation. We have a long time to go and I want to get to that point next about how did we get here, whether you agree or disagree with the Arizona law, how do we get to a point where the legislature thought they had to do this. But before we go to break, let's take a quick look