Will Arizona’s Law Lead to Racial Profiling?
The New York Times reports that on Friday, April 23, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law “the nation’s toughest bill on illegal immigration,” formally titled the “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act.” The law “would make the failure to carry immigration documents a crime and give the police broad power to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally.” Before this law, CNN explains, “officers could check someone’s immigration status only if that person was suspected in another crime.” Governor Brewer emphasized in her statement that “ ‘my signature today represents my steadfast support for enforcing the law—both AGAINST illegal immigration AND against racial profiling. . . . I will NOT tolerate racial discrimination or racial profiling in Arizona.’ ” Opponents are not convinced. Alessandra Soler Meetze, director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Arizona, is quoted by the New York Daily News as saying that “ ‘this is a mandate to harass anyone who looks or sounds foreign.’ ” And though it is rare for presidents to “weigh in” on state legislation, Obama responded to the Arizona law, stating that it “threatened ‘to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and our communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe,’ ” the New York Times writes.
- The Associated Press reports that “civil rights advocates vowed to challenge the law in court, saying it would undoubtedly lead to racial profiling despite Brewer’s assurances.” However, “supporters dismiss concerns about racial profiling, saying the law prohibits the use of race or nationality as the sole basis for an immigration check.” Do you think the law will inevitably lead to racial profiling? Why or why not?
- CNN quotes Reverend Al Sharpton as saying that “ ‘you don’t have two wrongs to make one civil right. People do have rights.’ ” What do you think Sharpton means by this? What rights do undocumented immigrants have? How might Arizona’s new immigration law lead to the rights of undocumented immigrants being violated? How might it lead to the rights of documented immigrants or U.S. citizens being violated?
- CNN quotes Reverend Al Sharpton as saying that “ ‘if you are a Latino in Phoenix, you should not be subjected to having to ride around with citizenship papers any more than anyone else.’ ” Do you agree with Reverend Sharpton?
- The Arizona Republic explains that Arizona’s new immigration law is less about using police to round up undocumented immigrants. The law utilizes a strategy “known as ‘attrition through enforcement.’ . . . ‘That means that rather than conducting large-scale active roundups of illegal immigrants, our intention is to make Arizona a very uncomfortable place for them to be so they leave or never come here in the first place,’ ” state Representative John Kavanagh said. “It’s about creating so much fear they will leave on their own.” What do you make of this strategy? Who is the strategy intended to target? Might it target other groups as well, perhaps unintentionally? In what ways might the strategy impact documented immigrants and U.S. citizens?
- The New York Times quotes Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles, who said that “the authorities’ ability to demand documents was like ‘Nazism.’ ” What do you make of this comparison?
- CBS quotes Junior Perez, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen who was born in Arizona, as saying that “ ‘they’re just focusing on us because we’re brown, and it’s devastating.’ ” How would you respond to Perez? What are some of the consequences of racial profiling?
- The New York Times writes that a growing response to Arizona’s immigration law is an economic boycott of the state. San Francisco city attorney Reverend Al Sharpton has supported such a boycott, “and members of the Board of Supervisors said they would propose that the city not do business with the state.” Mayor Phil Gordon of Pheonix, who opposed the law, “pleaded for people not to punish the entire state.” What do you make of San Francisco’s response to Arizona’s immigration law? Do you think this is an effective approach? What are other ways people or states could express their disapproval of the law?
