Everyday Scientist (NotScience)

Arizona: Wannabe Police State

Arizona just signed into law SB1070. It says cops can arrest anyone in Arizona that they reasonably suspect is an undocumented immigrant and who cannot produce documentation suggesting otherwise. Here’s my take.

The bill is unconstitutional. First, the federal government controls immigration law. States cannot encroach. That is what the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause (Article VI) is all about. Second, the bill will subject people to unreasonable search and seizure. (Read: violates the 4th Amendment.) Seriously, how can cops reasonably suspect that someone is undocumented? I guess they could hear people saying so, but when’s that gonna happen? Really, they’ll see some brown dude and flag him down cause he looks brown, or maybe cause he doesn’t speak English, or maybe cause he’s hanging out on the street with a bunch of other brown dudes.  Can you say racial profiling? So lame. So third, because of the inevitable racial profiling, the bill violates equal protection. (Read: violates the 14th amendment.) That should suffice to shoot down the bill. I’m guessing the bill won’t even get to become effective. The courts are sure to stay it while the case metes out.

The bill is a political stunt by the GOP. The bill was signed into law by the current Arizona governor, Jan Brewer (R), this uneducated, haggardly, old bigot who wanted to stick it to her predecessor, Janet Napolitano (D), who is the current Secretary of Homeland Security.  Brewer likes to pretend that Napolitano didn’t and doesn’t do anything in response to Arizona’s mondo undocumented immigrant population. Just ain’t so. Napolitano was out there with the rest of the paranoids who voiced support for (inappropriately) using the National Guard as border patrol and for erecting the (ineffective) border fence. They both like to pretend that the presence of undocumented workers is a problem although I would hope that Napolitano, at least, would see their presence nevertheless as a net benefit. Also, Brewer, no doubt prompted by her fellow Repubs, signed SB1070 in anticipation of President Obama’s prospective push for immigration law reform. Nothing rallies the Repub base and sets the political tone and discussion like an act of ineffective, unconstitutional bigotry.

My advice for people in Arizona: For now, make sure your papers look real. If you’re Latino, or if you don’t speak English, or if you speak without some rich-country accent, good luck! If you’re white and speak English — preferably with an American or fancypants Brit-type accent– lucky you!