Russell Pearce
Russell Pearce
Russell K. Pearceis an American politician and Republican former member of the Arizona State Senate. He rose to national prominence as the primary sponsor of Arizona SB1070, a controversial anti-illegal alien measure that was signed into law in 2010. He was elected President of the Arizona Senate when the Senate began its current term in January 2011, but then suffered a dramatic reversal of fortune when he was ousted in a November 2011 recall election, the first legislator in Arizona...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth23 June 1947
CountryUnited States of America
Washington, D.C. is what is broken, not the immigration policies. We have good laws. We have people suffer every day because of government's failure to enforce the law and be respectful to the process we have. We have a pathway to citizenship already in place.
Sen. Robert Menendez's Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2010 would try to nullify every single state and local law that fights illegal immigration. Congressman Luis Gutierrez's CIR ASAP Act with over 100 Democratic co-sponsors does the same thing.
Arizona has become a national leader in the restoration of the Rule of Law, with over 100,000 illegal aliens having left the state since 2007.
Go after the illegal employers. No free stuff. Take the handcuffs off law enforcement. They'll go home! They'll self-deport! The problem today is they break the law. They come across the border. And again, what's coming across that border today are bad guys!
If our government has a policy, any political subdivision, that limits or restricts the enforcement of our immigration laws, we will sue them! And that suit will be $5,000 a day every day until that policy is changed! This law will be enforced.
President Obama has decided to have the United Nations review the law of Arizona. You have got to be kidding! We're now going to have countries like Cuba, Libya and Uganda sitting in judgment on Arizona's laws? Enough is enough!
In the absence of a limitation on local enforcement powers, the states are bound by the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution to enforce violations of the federal immigration laws.
In Arizona we have passed laws to free our people so that they can defend themselves and their loved ones. You cannot predict where evil will raise its head, but you can be prepared for it.
I knew Arizona's SB 1070 would be controversial when I introduced it, but I did not expect the national immigration debate to revolve around a state law. While the anti-American open-borders Left attack me and the law as 'racist,' 'nativist' and their other empty smear words, the vast majority of the people of Arizona and America support the law.
Arizona did not make illegal, illegal. It is a crime to enter or remain in the U.S. in violation of federal law. States have had inherent authority to enforce immigration laws when the federal government has failed or refused to do so.
We need to fix Washington, D.C. and states need to fix their sanctuary policies. That's the problem.
Good people can disagree - all you want is honesty, because you know, if I disagree, I'm willing to debate you on that, and then let the public decide what's good policy and bad policy.
I am State Senator Russell Pearce, the author of SB1070, which was signed by Governor Jan Brewer. Fear mongering and misinformation is the tool of the Left against this common sense legislation.
When Maricopa County Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio cracked down on illegal immigration without getting permission from Obama, they threatened to revoke his 287(g) status. When Sheriff Joe refused to balk, they filed suit against him with a frivolous civil rights claim.