Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a controversial bill Friday that makes it a crime for illegal immigrants to be in the state. The new law will require local police to seek proof of immigration status if there is reason to suspect individuals are illegal immigrants.
This means a situation in Arizona can go down like this:
Nice Mexican man born in Mexico, but is now a citizen. He is walking into a parking lot full of cars. He can't remember where he parked... He looks around, checks a few aisles. In the mean time, a police officer is watching him.
This police officer, now, can approach this man simply by the color of his skin, demand to see proof of legally being in the country (visa, passport, social security card, etc).
Personally, this is a dark day in American history. They might as well slap a Star of David onto the Mexicans there.
I suppose, I meant to spark a conversation on the judgments of law enforcement with this new law.
Do you think your average, run-of-the-mill, cop is going to truly look for "evidential" signs of someone being an illegal immigrant? Do we even hold the ability to be that objective when it comes to inquiry of other humans as a COP?
Has anyone seen these Arizona policemen on the boarder? Let me show you.
These guys look super, racially tolerant to me! [/sarcasm]
Do you think your average, run-of-the-mill, cop is going to truly look for "evidential" signs of someone being an illegal immigrant?
When the average, run-of-the-mill, cop is being videotaped.. why not?
Do we even hold the ability to be that objective when it comes to inquiry of other humans as a COP?
Say, you are questionable about someone's age while they have beer. Are they going to be extremely offended by asking to see an ID of some sort? Instead of denying beer/going to jail, you could send them to an immigration office or just eject them from the state.
These guys look super, racially tolerant to me! [/sarcasm]
So, by law they should not judge others yet you judge them here?
There are cameras in their cars and some on highways. This does not mean Jethro isn't going to step away from his vehicle to go harass a bunch of Mexicans.
And how can you say it isn't much different from judging age? Clearly, you have not been to a border town. You cannot look at someone and make an informed decision if they are illegal or not. I live in a city that is predominately Hispanic. There is no way to tell just visually.
This is a direct violation of some of our basic rights.
This does not mean Jethro isn't going to step away from his vehicle to go harass a bunch of Mexicans.
In which case they report it and get on with their lives?
And how can you say it isn't much different from judging age? Clearly, you have not been to a border town. You cannot look at someone and make an informed decision if they are illegal or not. I live in a city that is predominately Hispanic. There is no way to tell just visually.
Here, we have the click it or tick it. You cannot get pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt. You can only be charged with it if there's another suspected offense with it. I'd suspect the same would be with this or it would be very tedious.
This is a direct violation of some of our basic rights.
Rights are something people should have. Privileges are what people do have.