Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (Gage Skidmore/Creative Commons)

Following the Supreme Court's decision to rule that three of the four provisions of Arizona's SB 1070 were unconstitutional, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer claimed the Obama administration had told Arizona to "drop dead."

“This is politics at its best. It’s just unconscionable,” she said during an interview with Fox News’s Greta van Susteren, reported The L.A. Times. “What they said to Arizona is, ‘Drop dead, Arizona. Drop dead and go away. We’re going to ignore you.’”

“It’s almost become apparent that they can do whatever they darn well want! They don’t want to enforce their laws. They won’t let us help them enforce their laws,” she added.

According to The Times, the Obama administration has been criticized by Latinos for the large numbers of deportations. Over the last three years, 1.1 million people have been deported.

The New York Times noted that Gov. Brewer can consider the Supreme Court's ruling as a victory in that the decision still allows law enforcement to check the immigration status of anyone if there is "reasonable suspicion" they are not a legal citizen.

Five other states have already passed similar laws including Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah. But civil rights leaders plan to continue fighting them.

“If state governments enact new immigration bills, we say bring it on, we will see them in court,” said Anthony D. Romero, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, to The New York Times. His organization has participated with other rights groups in a separate lawsuit against Arizona over the law, known as S.B. 1070, and against immigration enforcement laws in other states.

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney's campaign continued to skirt their stance on SB 1070. According to Businessweek, Romney's spokesman repeatedly offered vague responses on the candidate's beliefs:

QUESTION: “Does (Romney) think it’s wrongly decided?

GORKA: “The governor supports the states’ rights to do this. It’s a 10th amendment issue.”

QUESTION: So he thinks it’s constitutional?

GORKA: “The governor believes the states have the rights to craft their own immigration laws, especially when the federal government has failed to do so.”

QUESTION: Does (Romney) support the law as it was drafted in Arizona?

GORKA: “The governor supports the right of states, that’s all we’re going to say on this issue.”

QUESTION: What is his position on the actual law in Arizona?

GORKA: “Again, each state has the right within the Constitution to craft their own immigration laws since the federal government has failed.”

QUESTION: But does the Governor have a position on the Arizona law besides supporting the right of states?

GORKA: “This debate is sprung from the president failing to address this issue, so each state is left and has the power to draft and enact their own immigration policy.”

QUESTION: But the Arizona law does very specific things, does the governor support those things that the Arizona law does?

GORKA: “We’ve addressed this.”

 

Read more Neon Tommy coverage of SB 1070 here.

Reach Executive Producer Paige Brettingen here.