WILL ARIZONA'S ANTI IMMIGRANT LAWS LEAD TO ETHNIC PROFILING?

[Jazzy]

The United States Supreme Court has upheld much of Arizona's law cracking down on illegal immigrants. The Court upheld a requirement that police officers check the immigration status of people they stop, even for minor offences. However critics are worried that the law will lead to ethnic profiling and Justice Anthony Kennedy writing the majority opinion acknowledged this by leaving open the possibility of challenges to the law once it takes effect. Because most illegal immigrants into Arizona are hispanic the worry is that hispanics will be targeted as the police try to enforce the immigration law. Officers are supposed to check immigration status when they have reasonable suspicion but what can create this suspicion if not ethnicity?



In his reaction to the ruling Obama said No American should ever live under a cloud of suspicion just because of what they look like... Going forward, we must ensure that Arizona law enforcement officials do not enforce this law in a manner that undermines the civil rights of Americans, as the court's decision recognizes.



http://uk.reuters.co...E85O1BO20120625



http://www.thedailyb...a-s-new-immi...



Your thoughts on this?

 

[Temerit]

I think a law like this does create a lot of issues and as is said in the original post, how can they have reasonable suspicion about immigration status if not based on race? And if that is the case, any enforcement of this law would be extremely disrespectful for hispanic citizens.

 

[Fatal Dawn]

lol, the title is misleading. It's an anti illegal immigration law.

What it's really about is attrition through enforcement. They are trying to make it extremely different for those who are illegal to work and live in Arizona (and, inadvertently, quite possibly any outsider to the state of Arizona by association).



However, it would not be completely accurate to claim the validity of race as being the sole pretext for probable cause. Indeed some provisions have been added to the original bill to prevent such an occurrence.

A law enforcement official or agency of this state or a county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state may not solely consider race, color or national origin in implementing the requirements of this subsection except to the extent permitted by the United States or Arizona constitution.



ARTICLE 8. ENFORCEMENT OF IMMIGRATION LAWS, SENATE BILL 1070