By Tanya Golash-Boza, an associate professor of sociology and
American studies at the University of Kansas A critical debate
among immigrant rights advocates is whether the battle for
immigrants’ rights should invoke human rights or civil rights.
The advantage to the civil rights option is that these rights
are legally viable in U.S. courts. However, there are severe
limits to this approach. The United States has a strong
tradition of civil and political rights, yet, unlike most other
nations, it does not give much weight to the social, economic,
or cultural rights that are central to the human rights
tradition. This means that much of the human rights tradition
has no legal foundation in the United States. The importance of
civil rights in legal debates over immigration policy is evident
in the current conversation about Arizona’s Senate Bill (S.B.)
1070, and the related Supreme Court case: Arizona v. United
States. Oral arguments in this case will be heard on April 25,
2012, and a decision is expected somet