Interactive Map: A Nation United or Divided?

The Supreme Court Can Give a Green or Red Light on State Immigration Laws

By Ann Garcia | April 4, 2012

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On April 25 the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a landmark case, State of Arizona v. United States of America. By the end of June the Court will likely rule on whether states like Arizona have the authority to enact their own immigration enforcement laws instead of following federal regulations.

If the Court gives a green light to Arizona’s “attrition through enforcement” strategy, which aims to make life so harsh for undocumented immigrants and their families that they “self-deport,” and allows S.B. 1070 and its progeny to be implemented, the nation will return to a time of deep division, likely cleaved once again along regional lines. Some states will pass welcoming laws and others restrictive ones.

With this series of maps we aim to convey the implications of the Court’s decision, which are significant and will have profound implications for all people living in Arizona and Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Utah, where similar measures have passed, as well as for the country as a whole.

What is at stake is the unity of the nation and the preservation of our core values. Let’s take a look at what our nation looks like today and what it could look like with a Supreme Court decision in favor or against Arizona style legislation.

Updated June 25, 2012.

A Nation in Chaos | A Nation Divided | A Nation United

Ann Garcia is a Research and Policy Associate at the Center for American Progress.

See also:

• ‘Arizona v. United States’ in the U.S. Supreme Court by Marshall Fitz and Jeanne Butterfield
• Arizona’s ‘Show Me Your Papers’ Law in the U.S. Supreme Court: What’s at Stake? by Marshall Fitz and Jeanne Butterfield