Arizona sure took things into their own hands to solve the illegal immigration problem! They definitely showed the rest of the nation that you don’t need the federal government to solve problems for you, didn’t they!
Well, except that the Arizona agency that is responsible for implementing the new law has asked federal authorities for help. The issue here is: how do police officers enforce a law that requires them to arrest illegal immigrants based on a “reasonable suspicion”, without racial profiling, which is prohibited by the law.
When I try to make a helpful list of the top signs that someone might be an illegal alien, all I can come up with are:
- Their skin is a different color than white
- They speak with a funny accent
- They are standing on a street corner looking for work
- The have jobs doing work that legal Arizona residents refuse to do
Can you do better?
Well, the Arizona police have to do better, which is why the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board requested the assistance, saying “Participation by federal authorities is critical in ascertaining how to implement a standard of enforcement.” But the federal government has not answered his request.
Luckily, the Daily Show has created a handy guide for determining whether there is reasonable suspicion of someone being illegal:
UPDATE:
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Well. it’s obvious that the loonies have taken over the AZ state government. I’m solidly behind the effort to put a fence up around the east, north and west borders of AZ. I don’t want these kinds of loonies in my country. What say the rest of you? Let’s git’r done…….
BTW, Google AdSense strikes again. Their top ad is one asking if you want to become a police officer.
AZ has been like this for quite some time. I believe it was Nixon who stated that the state was too conservative even for him.
Imagine: A serial killer is loose in your city. Since most serial killers are white, suburban, middle class males age 35-55, imagine the cops being given permission to indiscriminately question anyone, anytime meeting that description.
How quickly would the Tea Partiers rally against the gov’t intrusion into their private lives?
And…where does “reasonable suspicion” rank on the scale of “zero to probable cause”?
And another thought:
If we could wave some magical wand that would instantly transport every single illegal immigrant back to his or her country of origin, I wonder what the impact to this country’s economy would be?
While there is debate as to whether illegal immigration is a net loss, fiscally speaking, to the economy, or a net gain (including labor savings and Social Security and income taxes paid into the system, without an end SS benefit), it can easily be argued that the “cost” burden is disproportionately laid at the feet of local municipalities and states. And that issue needs to be addressed.