Earlier this month, lawmakers in Arizona passed SB 1070, enacting what many feel is the toughest anti-immigration policy on the books anywhere in the United States.
The law gives police the prerogative to aid the federal government in the discovery and apprehension of undocumented immigrants.
There are a variety of ways to interpret this legislation, and none are positive. Either the Arizona legislators are shortsighted and have not considered the consequences fully, or they are fully aware of their folly and guilty of selfishness.
The bill has several obvious flaws, which lawmakers must have ignored in favor of creating the illusion of a meritorious law.
The Arizona law allows police to charge those who lack proper documentation with a misdemeanor offense. Upon developing a “reasonable suspicion” that an individual is an illegal immigrant, police must take steps to determine that individual’s immigration status.
In doing so, the law quite literally creates situations in which officers will be forced to make judgments based on race and thus opens the floodgates for a crush of civil suits alleging racial profiling.
And that’s where the bill’s passing makes the least sense ““ the new law will not only add stress to the state’s already under-supported criminal justice systems, but it will also cost the state millions in trial expenses. Because the law explicitly bans profiling, lawsuits alleging it will undoubtedly arise in greater numbers.
If we assume that Arizona lawmakers were aware of these flaws, then the purity of their intentions becomes extremely questionable. Passing this law sends a clear and unpleasant message to the neighbors of both Arizona and the United States: Go somewhere else. The implementation of the law will chase immigrants out of Arizona, and their most logical destination is California, where public services are already overburdened.
Not only are lawmakers outsourcing their immigration problem, they are disrespecting an essential group of laborers, without whom our states’ economies would surely collapse. The bill alienates those undocumented immigrants who might otherwise be willing to cooperate with law enforcement as members of the Arizona state police chief’s association pointed out.
Above all, it sets a precedent for state involvement in federal immigration policy, the ramifications of which are far-reaching and disturbing. This board recognizes the stresses that immigration puts on our social services, and we encourage lawmakers to find innovative ways of tackling such long-standing problems. But this bill, and any like it, cannot be the solution.