COMMENT: Following are the provisions of Arizona's controversial Bill (source was Wikipedia, but I think it's accurate). Personally, I'm still confused why there is such emotional response and racial profiling accusations. The Bill clearly limits the police action and restricts them even more than before regarding when they can call immigration status into question. Has EVERYONE forgotten that this Bill is aimed at people who are here illegally? It's not targeting every brown person in the country. It's not even targeting Mexicans - it's targeting people in the country illegally, and the Bill's purpose was to give law enforcement the ability to hold those individuals found to be in the country illegally. Prior to this Bill, state law enforcement had no authority to hold these people even when they found them to be undocumented.
ARIZONA SENATE BILL 1070: The act makes it a state misdemeanor crime for an alien to be in Arizona without carrying registration documents required by federal law, and obligates police to make an attempt, when practicable, to determine a person's immigration status if there is reasonable suspicion that the person is an illegal alien, during a police stop for some other offense. Police may arrest a person if there is probable cause that the person is an unlawful alien; a person arrested cannot be released without confirmation of the person's legal immigration status by the federal government pursuant to § 1373(c) of Title 8 of the United States Code. A first offense carries a fine of up to $100, plus court costs, and up to 20 days in jail; subsequent offenses can result in up to 30 days in jail. A person is "presumed to not be an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States" if he or she presents any of the following four forms of identification: (a) a valid Arizona driver license; (b) a valid Arizona nonoperating identification license; (c) a valid tribal enrollment card or other tribal identification; or (d) any valid federal, state, or local government-issued identification, if the issuer requires proof of legal presence in the United States as a condition of issuance. SB 1070 also prohibits state, county, or local officials from limiting or restricting "the enforcement of federal immigration laws to less than the full extent permitted by federal law" and provides that Arizona citizens can sue such agencies or officials to compel such full enforcement.
In addition, the law makes it a crime for anyone, regardless of citizenship or immigration-status, to hire or to be hired from a vehicle which "blocks or impedes the normal movement of traffic." Vehicles used in such manner are subject to mandatory impounding. Moreover, "encourag[ing] or induc[ing]" illegal immigration, giving shelter to illegal immigrants, and transporting or attempting to transport an illegal alien, either knowingly or while "recklessly" disregarding the individual's immigration-status, will be considered a class 1 criminal misdemeanor if fewer than ten illegal immigrants are involved, and a class 6 felony if ten or more are involved. The offender will be subject to a fine of at least $1,000 for each illegal alien so transported or sheltered.
ARIZONA HOUSE BILL 2162
On April 30, the Arizona legislature passed, and Governor Brewer signed, House Bill 2162, which modified the law that had been signed a week earlier, with the amended text stating that "prosecutors would not investigate complaints based on race, color or national origin." The new text also states that police may only investigate immigration status incident to a "lawful stop, detention, or arrest", lowers the original fine from a minimum of $500 to a maximum of $100, and changes incarceration limits from 6 months to 20 days for first-time offenders. Arizona is the first state with such a law. Prior law in Arizona, and the law in most other states, does not mandate that law enforcement personnel ask about the immigration status of those they encounter.
COMMENT: I really want to hear from opponents of this Bill. I want to hear the other side from people AFTER they have read the provisions - not those whose "knee-jerk" reaction is that it's an invitation for racial profiling. Thanks to the Maricopa County Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, all law enforcement and judicial actions in Arizona are more closely scrutinized than any other state in the country. In an interview, Sheriff Arpaio stated there have been 9 Federal authorities going over all of his operations for 1-1/2 years without a single infraction noted.
I'm confident they worded this Bill very carefully AND will be very restrictive in it's enforcement - they can ill afford an actual racial profiling charge with the microscope they find themselves under.
No comments:
Post a Comment