Yesterday the Arizona senate passed the most oppressive, odious, and frankly unconstitutional law I have heard about in a long time. Your stance on immigration is basically irrelevant. No legislation is going to completely halt immigration, as anyone with even a basic understanding of supply and demand could tell you. But even if that was your goal, this is not the bill to do it! Arizona Representative Tom Chabin said it best. In a recent interview he was explaining why the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police, the border cities of Yuma and Sierra Vista, as well as the Arizona Prosecuting Attorney's council ALL OPPOSE THIS BILL. He explains, "this bill...distracts local police from the priorities that keep the community safe. It distracts them from going after real criminals- crack houses, drug sales, and drug dealers within the community...and directs their attention to some guy who wants to rake someone's lawn." I couldn't agree with him more.
In a nutshell, this bill requires police to demand proof of citizenship from anyone they see for whom there is "reasonable suspicion" that they are here illegally. The problem is that you cannot tell by looking at someone whether they have papers or not. So what "reasonable suspicion" are police left to use? I've got a newsflash for Jan Brewer and her colleagues- this is 2010- there are A LOT of CITIZENS of this country who happen to speak Spanish and who also have dark skin. As of yesterday, that wasn't a crime. However, in 5 short days, if Brewer doesn't veto this bill, anyone who is Latino, yes even U.S. citizens, will be legally subjected to harassment and questioning by police officers anywhere and at anytime in the state of Arizona. Unbelievable. Further more, should the police actually discover someone who is undocumented, they are required to immediately arrest them and transport them to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials. Because that's a good use of taxpayer money.
The author of the bill explained his well thought-out rationale this way, "Handcuffs are a wonderful tool when they're on the right people." He goes on to say that he wants to "get [handcuffs] off law enforcement and onto the bad guys." As a reminder here people, I would be inclined to agree with him if the "bad guys" were murderers, rapists, or even Wall Street CEOs. But day laborers? People who stand outside of Home Depot trying to get hired to landscape your backyard for embarassingly low prices? Or how about my students' 65 year old grandparents who don't have papers? Or for that matter the 12 year olds in my class? (those who have papers as well as those who do not) Are these really the dangerous criminals our country should be focusing on? I think not. And I'd like to think that there are a lot of intelligent people out there, on both sides of the immigration issue who agree with me.
For more information about this bill, and what you can do to stop it from becoming a law, please check out the websites below. And thank you for listening to my rant. I can't help it. I refuse to sit back and allow xenophobia and blatant, institutionalized, racism to become the norm in this country or my state. Hopefully, you can't stomach this either.
New York Times- AZ Goes Over the Edge
NPR's Morning Edition- AZ Tough New Immigration Bill
ACLU Analysis of the Bill
National Day Laborer Organizing Network
Reuters- AZ Passes Tough Illegal Immigration Law
Due Process and Immigration Law- Restore Fairness
