Opinion: Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer on illegal-immigration bill: ‘I will not back down’

The appeal involves an issue of significant importance -- the state of Arizona’s right to implement a law its Legislature enacted to address the irreparable harm Arizona is suffering as a result of unchecked unlawful immigration.

Today I filed an expedited appeal with the Ninth Circuit asking the court to lift the injunction put in place by Judge Bolton yesterday against certain provisions of SB 1070 and to allow those provisions to go into effect pending a decision on the merits of this case. I have also asked the Ninth Circuit to expedite the briefing schedule and its ruling, since Congress and the President have once again failed to act.

The Notice of Appeal and Motion for Expedited Briefing and Hearing Schedule filed today asks the Ninth Circuit to establish a timeline that would have the State file a substantive brief on August 12, the United States file its response brief on August 26, and the State file its reply brief on September 2. I have asked the Ninth Circuit to schedule oral arguments on the appeal the week of September 13 and to expedite its ruling. America is not going to sit back and allow the ongoing federal failures to continue. We are a nation of laws and we believe they need to be enforced. If the federal government wants to be in charge of illegal immigration and they want no help from states, it then needs to do its job. Arizona would not be faced with this problem if the federal government honored its responsibilities. Illegal immigration is an ongoing crisis the State of Arizona did not create and the federal government has refused to fix. SB 1070 protects all of us, every Arizona citizen and everyone here in our state lawfully. It ensures that the constitutional rights of ALL in Arizona are undiminished. I believe Arizona, like America, is governed by laws – laws that confer respect and that demand respect in return. Our state taxpayers cannot sustain the outrageous costs of illegal immigration, and its continued erosion of our time-honored legal immigration traditions. As governor of the state of Arizona, I will honor my core principles and my sworn oath to protect the citizens of this great state and, therefore, I will not back down.