A Controversial Immigration Bill Pt. 2

The law which passed last week in Arizona has certainly incited protests against the state. Latino organizations are fiercely protesting this law, and they certainly have the right too, and I understand why they are protesting. As I said in a previous post, many Latino organizations undoubtedly feel that Arizona police will stop Hispanic residents of the state for no reason whatsoever, and “demand to see their papers.”

Hearing these criticisms, Governor Jan Brewer and the state legislature made a few changes to the law.

Under the law, police would be able to detain an individual based merely on the suspicion that he or she entered the country illegally. But one of the changes -- which had been adopted by state lawmakers Thursday night -- says police could stop suspected illegal immigrants only while enforcing some other law or ordinance.

An officer could only ask about an immigrant's legal status, for example, while investigating that person for speeding, loitering or some other offense.

The facts are these:

Before the change: Police can stop anyone with “reasonable suspicion.” Critics believe that this statement could be liberally interpreted, stretched to the limit, and civil liberties could potentially be violated. President Obama had this to say, while visiting Ottumwa.

"You can imagine if you are an Hispanic American in Arizona, your great grandparents may have been there before Arizona was even a state, but now suddenly if you don't have your papers, and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you're gonna be harassed," Obama said. "That's something that could potentially happen. That's not the right way to go."

Notice that President Obama, former constitutional law professor, never said that the bill was unconstitutional. Nonetheless, the Arizona state government decided to alter their law.

After the change: Police CANNOT stop anyone with “reasonable suspicion” only. There must be an offense committed. Therefore, the President’s story about an ice cream desiring family now, by law, cannot happen…unless mom is speeding on the way to Coldstone. Furthermore:

University of Arizona law professor Gabriel Chin told CNN that the changes to the bill are significant, insofar as they help remove a "huge disincentive for victims and witnesses to cooperate with the police."

Under the original version of the law, he said, police officers would have been obligated to arrest a suspected illegal immigrant who approached them after being victimized. That would not be the case under the revised law.

I would hope that these changes would be welcomed, because most folks should realize that these alterations are more realistic, and less “Nazi-like,” right?

"It doesn't deter anything," said Dan Pochoda, legal director of the Arizona ACLU. "It's not a serious hurdle."

Pochoda said that law enforcement officers -- under strong pressure to find and remove illegal immigrants -- could still identify people by race and then look for a minor infraction as an excuse to investigate them.

Sorry, Governor Brewer…you just can’t win. It seems as though you heard a lot of criticism, listened to it, and then made the changes that you felt were necessary to improve the bill. Mr. Pochoda, if you believe that police will be intentionally looking for people to break the law, looking for any excuse to pull over a Latino family on the way to get ice cream, then you must not have very much respect for the police.

I think we can only conclude one thing: The goal of many on the left is to have a situation where if you are visiting this country illegally, you shouldn't be mandated to carry or show identification. When I visit other countries, I always have one of two things on my person: My passport, or a copy of my passport. This makes sense. If the French police were to ever stop me, I would have to show them my documentation. This is how the world works. I simply cannot fathom why visitors in Arizona shouldn't be forced to carry or show their documentation when they are stopped for speeding. I have to.

Again, I think the only logical conclusion is that Mr. Pochoda and the ACLU truly believe that if you are an illegal immigrant, you should never be forced to show your documentation to authorities. My only question to the Arizona ACLU and other organizations is, why not?