The Mock Trial notes!

"From a vote of 10-1, we the jury find the state of Arizona guilty for violation of the spirit of America's immigration history through AZ SB1070 and HB2162."

Case: Violation of the spirit of America's immigrant history through AZ SB1070 and HB2162.

Prosecuting Lawyers: Evanglyn B. and Noah S.
Alex Machado: James Madison
Eric Holder: Siarah Loyld
Raul Rivalva: Jeffery Acera

Defending Lawyers: Erica S. and Kayta B.
Jane Bruea: William Wright
John McCain: Brandi Coley
Kenneth L. Colling: Jose Gonzalez


DAY ONE:

James Madison

Prosecuting
James Madison was the author of the Declaration of Independence, was born March 16, 1751 and died June 28, 1836. "No state can deny any person in jurisdiction" he says when asked by Noah. He also says 1,000's of immigrants have traveled here through Elis Island back in the day and now it's a different story. Now they are coming from all over. He mentions many different quotes from the Constitution(4th, 5th and 14th amendment).

Defense
Erica mentions a quote by James Madison about illegal immigrants, " If you are not here legally we have the right to remove you!" -James Madison(Earlier time). "Yes, I said that but I mean we can remove someone not legal from the United Sates but we will not go off racially profiling people by the way they look." said James Madison. He also said that if he could write the law, he would include no racial profiling!
Quotes and other notes from Madison:
-"Without adding to the strength or wealth of this country those are not the people we want."
-"If you are not here legally we have the right to remove you!"
-Madison put a law on labors who do not work in agriculture.
More for James Madison, click HERE!



Eric Holder

Prosecuting
Eric Holder is the U.S. attorney General, he gives advice and answers questions when asked by people of the Government. When the Government filled a lawsuit against Jane Bruea on July 6, 2010 he did not read the law so he would only know about the case by what people have told him. He thinks that the law is violating amendments 4,5 and 14, life, liberty and property and the Supremacy law. He thinks the state laws must abide by the federal laws and Constitution. He says the congress have the power over border, so if Jane thinks she can appose that rule then she is wrong. He seems to think that the passing of California's 187 bill is similar to Arizona's SB1070 law in a few ways.

Defense

He state he doesn't believe the law is necessarily racist he just feels they could state it in a Different way and try not to make it seem like they are racially profiling. He does mention filling a second law on Arizona, but the jury starts to think why file a second law if you supposedly see anything about the law being racist.



Raul Rialva

Prosecuting

He mentions a few times an organization called Operation Wetback, which wanted to help remove one million illegal immigrants from the united states. He was born three years after his parents immigrated to the United States. He mentioned a young lady by the name of Maria who was thrown to the ground by six officers for supposedly not having a valid I.D. and for forging someone's identity, she suffered a broken arm and was not received medical attention until 20 hours later. In the end the truth came out and Maria was actually telling the truth and was set free. He states the Jim Crow laws. "If we can fight Jim Crow we can fit again!"

Defense

Raul was accused of boycotting Arizona which was causing a decrease in Arizona's economy, but he fights back saying with the help and attention on this law it will do damage but will be cleaned up fast enough for Arizona to be back on track. He does say the law is racially profiling people for the way they look, but immigrants do need to get legal documentation.



Jane Bruea

Defense
Jane is the governor of Arizona, she was the one who signed SB1070. She believed the federal government was not doing there job and she had to take the stand to make the people of Arizona happy and do what's right. She said Arizona does NOT have a border fence like California and Texas do. She says there is about 80 miles of land which keep Mexico and Arizona apart, there is a fence but it's small enough for a toddler to climb over. (See picture above)

Prosecuting
Many people think the law is about racially profiling someone who an officer can THINK is an illegal immigrant. Well first she says someone has to commit a crime and if they do not have the proper identification and they:
-Have poor English
-Portray nervousness
-Wearing layers of clothing
-Wearing baggy clothes
-Sees people walking in a straight line
Then they are profiled as an illegal immigrant. She goes on to say this is not racially profiling but the jury sees this as being the best way to racially profile. She does believe that illegal immigration will never be a permanent solution but there are little things that officers can do to prevent it. She goes on to say that since this law have been announced the crime rate has gone down, so the lawyers think is she implying that immigrants are the only people in Arizona committing crimes? "Enforcing this bill will stop crime and then will have more tourists because no one wants to go somewhere they don't feel safe. Jane does mention that she was NOT voted by the people to be governor nor did the people of Arizona vote for this law. " Since I have passed the law my approving rate has went up to 48%." Jane says. "So does that mean 52% doesn't approve?" Noah asks. She said she feels that if the people of Arizona did not feel she was doing her job then they would be complaining. She also mentions how she feels that illegal immigrants take our tax dollars by going to hospitals, letting their kids go to our school and taking our jobs.
Quotes from Jane:
-"People who come here illegally do not have the same rights that an United States citizen has, such as life, liberty and property."
-"By coming to America illegally you are committing a crime."


DAY TWO:

Jane Bruea

Prosecuting
As prosecution goes on with their cross examination, Jane still thinks that state laws should override federal laws because the federal government doesn't always know what's going on. Prosecution asks Jane what she thinks an illegal immigrant looks like. She answers " I can't define what they look like, but there are certain ways they can be portrayed." She goes on to say she thinks immigration is a national problem and it's the federal governments job to take care of that but since they can't she will.



John McCain

Defense
John McCain is the senator of Arizona, he does support SB1070, he thinks that this bill will discourage aliens to enter the United States illegally. He doesn't see a problem with immigrants he just feels if you want to come to America then you should wait in line and get your legal documentation. He talked about the Ten Point Border Plan which he and John Kyle organized to combat aliens.

Prosecution
"They should not be treated like Unites State citizens because they break the federal law." - John McCain He says he believes that illegal immigrants do cause problems, they might not be the majority of the crime but they are still here illegally committing crimes they should not be committing. He says he believes the federal government is suing Arizona because it interferes with federal law, when in all actuality it doesn't. He uses the example of gangs and how if they look a certain way and are dressed a certain way and look suspicious then officers have the right to take that into their hands and make a decision.

Kenneth L. Collings

Defense
Kenneth was a sheriff in Arizona until he was shot dean in 1988. He died trying to arrest two illegal immigrants, he believes that if the borders were secure and i f there was a law like this before then he would still be alive. He is asked to define concurrent enforcement and he answers "It's when the federal and state share power." He says that when an officer thinks someone is committing a crime they do have the right to take them in for questioning.

Prosecution
Noah states that in his death report they just mention the men being Mexico natives, so no one states them being illegal immigrants. It was another assumption. He says that if a person commits a crime, doesn't have proper identification and doesn't speak English well then they will be labeled as an illegal immigrant and taken in for questioning.

Closing statements were presented and at the end of this mock trial my mind was definitely changed because I din;t realize both sides of the case and as I did, I just assumed that Arizona was wrong. After this trial I do believe that Arizona has some truth and good evidence to why they did what they did and after hearing their side anyone would have to understand that. Both sides did a very good job of getting information, evidence and witnesses to plead their case and try to explain in their best ways to the jury why they are right.

I was left with a few questions and comments:
-Why can't Arizona just build a fence hire officers to secure and move on?
-The prosecuting side needed to clarify a little more.
-I would of liked more clarification about the actual law, like someone reading parts of the law so the jury could of had a better understanding.

Well that's it.


"From a vote of 10-1, we the jury find the state of Arizona guilty for violation of the spirit of America's immigration history through AZ SB1070 and HB2162."