Is Arizona Legalizing Racial Profiling?
April 22nd 2010 20:45
According to The Christian Science Monitor, the Arizona legislature just passed a measure that would mandate police officers to investigate the immigration status of anyone if there is a "reasonable suspicion" that they are illegally in the country. The governor of Arizona is now contemplating signing the bill. If the governor passes the bill officials might find it difficult to abstain from racial or ethnic profiling while trying to enforce the law.
According to a NBC poll most people think racial profiling is more dangerous to America than illegal immigration. If this bill passes it will make it a crime for legal immigrants to not carry their immigration papers and will allow police to arrest anyone unable to produce them. “It basically puts racial profiling into law,” a spokeswoman for the Senate Democrats in the Arizona state assembly told The Times. At least ten other States are considering similar reforms.
Critics of the bill claim it is a green light for racial profiling. I agree. “Reasonable suspicion” could be anything from looking paranoid to simply looking Latino. If that is not racial profiling then I do not know what is.
According to a NBC poll most people think racial profiling is more dangerous to America than illegal immigration. If this bill passes it will make it a crime for legal immigrants to not carry their immigration papers and will allow police to arrest anyone unable to produce them. “It basically puts racial profiling into law,” a spokeswoman for the Senate Democrats in the Arizona state assembly told The Times. At least ten other States are considering similar reforms.
Critics of the bill claim it is a green light for racial profiling. I agree. “Reasonable suspicion” could be anything from looking paranoid to simply looking Latino. If that is not racial profiling then I do not know what is.
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