Moments after Gov. Jan Brewer signed Arizona's controversial new immigration law Friday, opponents promised legal challenges and economic sanctions against a state still reeling from the housing meltdown.
Before and after Senate Bill 1070 became law at 1:30 p.m., civil unrest punctuated by loud protests and several minor clashes took place at the state Capitol, where more than 1,500 people gathered to chant, pray and either praise or castigate the Republican governor.
At least four protesters were arrested, several after hurling water bottles at police officers in riot gear.
Brewer, who faces a stiff primary challenge and needs conservatives to keep her in office, said the law represents another tool for the state to "work to solve a crisis we did not create and the federal government has refused to fix - the crisis caused by illegal immigration and Arizona's porous border."
The legislation put Arizona in the national spotlight, with President Barack Obama weighing in on it earlier in the day and cable-news giant CNN broadcasting live Brewer's signing and the Capitol demonstrations.
Even the Mexican government issued a formal statement, saying it "laments that Arizona lawmakers and the executive branch didn't take into account immigrants' contributions - economically, socially and culturally."
"The criminalization isn't the path to resolve the undocumented-immigration phenomenon," the statement added.
The legislation has widespread support among Arizonans, according to one recent poll, but Latino leaders compared the bill to apartheid in South Africa and the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. A handful of teenage girls, among the hundreds of high-school students attending a Statehouse rally, openly wept after it was announced that Brewer signed the bill.
Arizona's immigration law, now considered the toughest in the nation, makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally and requires local police to enforce federal immigration laws. It will require anyone whom police suspect of being in the country illegally to produce "an alien registration document," such as a green card or other proof of citizenship, such as a passport or Arizona driver's license.
It also makes it illegal to impede the flow of traffic by picking up day laborers for work. A day laborer who gets picked up for work, and traffic is impeded in the process, would also be committing a criminal act.
The law goes into effect 90 days after the current legislative session ends, likely in early May.
Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, the bill's sponsor, called it "a good day for America," saying the law is reasonable.
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