Quote:
Originally Posted by kathrynhr
It's racist as written. There's no question.
I'm strongly opposed to illegal immigration. I want fences, I want enforceable laws, and I'm in favor of deportation if someone chose to enter illegally when a legal path was available. I'm also in favor of harsh penalties for those who engage in identity theft or commit other crimes against our true citizens while establishing an illegal presence here.
But I don't want anyone - let alone a law enforcement officer - empowered to "card" people based on the fact that they look Hispanic. If I have to choose between more illegals being caught based on a law that revolves around racism, and more of them getting away because justice in the US remains blind to things like color, I choose the latter.
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It is NOT racist, as written. The language was lifted directly from the federal statutes (that currently are NOT enforced)... language has been added to specifically forbid racial profiling.
The law is a "secondary" law, meaning that there must have been a valid reason for the contact in the first place. And federal law has required all "aliens" to carry "papers" with them at all times since 1946... and it is nothing that is not required by any other country in the world... I spent time in Europe (Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria and Ireland) and was advised to carry my passport with me at all times to avoid any problems regarding my identity - it was the law, and I was expected to comply. But somehow when America does it, it's racist? Give me a break.
In the past 4 years, the city of Phoenix has had 4 police officers killed in the line of duty by illegal aliens - one of which had been deported 3 times and was back in the country illegally AGAIN. On the day that the governor signed the law, a sheriff's deputy was shot by an illegal alien with an AK-47 type assault rifle.
Come live in Arizona for a month, witness the crime, the shootings, the human smuggling, the drug smuggling, etc and walk in our shoes. All this law does is add state penalties to what is already a federal crime, and allow local law enforcement to detain those found to be illegal aliens who are living, working and committing crimes in our communities - whether they are Mexican, Nicaraguan, Canadian, German, Australian or Swiss.