Arizona Anti-Immigrant Bill Would Allow Police To Question Anyone Who Doesn’t Look Right

Posted by | April 20, 2010 20:41 | Filed under: Top Stories


A bill that would become the nation’s strictest immigration law, if signed by Republican Governor Jan Brewer, would effectively give police the right to question anyone they suspect of not being in the country legally.

The bill would require immigrants to carry their alien registration documents at all times and require police to question people if there’s reason to suspect they’re in the United States illegally. It also targets those who hire illegal immigrant day laborers or knowingly transport them.

Currently, police can question someone if there is suspicion of a crime, but this measure would give them permission to stop anyone at their discretion.  Democratic Representative Raul Grijalva warns, “When you institutionalize a law like this one, you are targeting and discriminating at a wholesale level against a group of people.”

Grijalva, whose congressional district runs from the Mexican border to the outskirts of Phoenix, said the legislation “is not just mean-spirited, it is directed at a specific population.” [Rep. Luis] Gutierrez, D-Illinois, said the measure infringes on the federal government’s authority over immigration laws as well as being discriminatory.

State Sen. Russell Pearce (pictured), the bill’s chief sponsor, argues, “Illegal is not a race, it’s a crime. We’re going to take the handcuffs off of law enforcement. We’re going to put them on the bad guy.”

So they are going to know someone is “illegal” how? By looking at him/her?

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Copyright 2010 Liberaland
By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.

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