I'm writing in English, which is strange in itself since I really love my own language, Finnish, and since I detest the power position that the English language has in global communucation... but I'd get way too many complaints from American friends if I didn't write in a language comprehensible to them.

Jun 21, 2010

Arizona Arizona

There's been a lot of talk about the new immigration law in Arizona... Some of it is fairly amusing, some interesting and some annoying. I haven't researched the facts very much, so if you know more, please tell me. This is what I've understood so far:

People in Arizona voted for a law that allows the police to check any immigrant's papers to see if they are legally in the US. Problems with the law: how can the police enforce this law without racial profiling which in itself is questionable?

I'm a legal immigrant to the US and when I got my green card status I was told that I need to keep documents on me at all time to be able to prove that I'm legal. I haven't in fact always had my wallet on me - yesterday for instance I went on a walk without it... would I get in trouble if something had happened? Most likely not unless I was very unlucky. You see, I'm white and look like my roots are from northern Europe. Even in Arizona I'd most likely not be harassed. How could a police even suspect that I'm not third or tenth generation American?

What if I looked Latino though? What if I was from New Mexico, tenth generation American and looked like I was Latino, and even spoke Spanish? The proponents of the law were trying to make sure it wouldn't allow for racial profiling, but how else would the police know who to check? The law is clearly meant to reduce the amount of illegal immigrants from Mexico and South America. So what will it do without racial profiling? Will everyone be checked all the time? But I don't think there's any law for American Citizens requiring them to have ID with them at all times - so if they are checked they could be in a similar situation as illegal immigrants - no papers.

The whole situation seems to me very strange...

4 comments:

  1. My few thoughts on this:
    1- The Arizona law is mirror of the federal law- it just gives state police officers the ability to enforce the law, so I'm not sure why everyone cares so much about this law but doesn't raise a fuss about the federal immigration law.
    2- The law does not allow police or other law enforcers to randomly stop people who they think look like they might be illigal immegrants. My understanding is that if a police officer is engaged with a person for other reasons (anything from traffic violations to misdemeaners)and through that contact becomes suspicious the person is in the country illigally, they can ask for ID. These reasons should not be based on race, but on things such as how they answer questions about where they are from, where they live, ability to produce ID, etc. I think they could become just as suspicious of a white person who couldn't answer these questions as someone who isn't white. I agree this is where things can get dicey, as it might be easy for a police officer to see a Latino and come up with an excuse to talk to them and then become "suspicious", but thats not the law and I think this issue is politically sensitive enough that police will be trained very extensively on how to enforce the law legally.
    3- IDs. You certainly aren't breaking the law by not carrying an ID with you, but anytime I've ever been stopped by a police officer for anything (I'm white and American), I've always been asked for an ID. I've had one everytime I've needed it, but I believe if I didn't I would be asked for some way of proving my identity or giving the police a way to verify who I am.
    4- If anyone is interested, here is the text of the Arizona law:
    http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf
    5- I'm very pro immigration- I think we should streamline the system to make it easier for people to get in legally. Not, to get all patriotic, but this country is built on that. Sorry for the long-winded comments, just couldn't stop myself...

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  2. Thanks Mel for the factual update. Very much needed. Where things go dicey is indeed in the attitude of the police...

    Here's a detail, possibly omitted from the text. As an immigrant I'm not supposed to just have ID on me at all time, but the green card. That's the federal law. Still think it wouldn't be so much an issue for me as for someone not looking white...

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  3. Totally agree that this is likely biased against people who aren't white, but I think all immigration laws and inforcement are, so this problem is bigger than just the Arizona law.

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  4. With our swiftly developing welfare state, Americans are leery about letting furriners come here and get free stuff.

    The valuable point here is that voters aren't especially interested in reducing the suffering in the world; rather they care more about keeping the free stuff for themselves.

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