Eugene Robinson: Arizona's Act of Vengeance

[babylonsister]

http://www.truthout.org/eugene-robinson-arizonas-act-vengeance58886

Arizona's Act of Vengeance

Monday 26 April 2010

by: Eugene Robinson, Op-Ed


Washington - Arizona's draconian new immigration law is an abomination -- racist, arbitrary, oppressive, mean-spirited, unjust. About the only hopeful thing that can be said is that the legislation, which Republican Gov. Jan Brewer signed Friday, goes so outrageously far that it may well be unconstitutional.

Brewer, who caved to xenophobic pressures that previous governors had the backbone to resist, should be ashamed of herself. The law requires police to question anyone they "reasonably suspect" of being an undocumented immigrant -- a mandate for racial profiling on a massive scale. Legal immigrants will be required to carry papers proving they have a right to be in the United States. Those without documentation can be charged with the crime of trespassing and jailed for up to six months.

snip//

One of the concrete problems with the law treating undocumented immigrants as criminals is that it gives those without papers a powerful incentive to stay as far away from police as possible. This will only make it more difficult for local police to investigate crimes and track down fugitive offenders, because no potential witness who is undocumented will come forward.

And how are police supposed to decide whom they "reasonably suspect" of being in the country illegally? Since the great majority of undocumented immigrants in Arizona are from Mexico, aggressive enforcement of the law would seem to require demanding identification from anybody who looks kind of Mexican. Or maybe just hassling those who look kind of Mexican and also kind of poor. Or maybe anyone who dares to visit the Mexican consulate.

Arizona is dealing with a real problem and is right to demand that Washington provide a solution. But the new immigration law isn't a solution at all. It's more like an act of vengeance. The law makes Latino citizens and legal residents vulnerable to arbitrary harassment -- relegating them to second-class status -- and it is an utter disgrace.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted sub-thread

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[DevonRex]

2. Mr. Robinson makes some really great points, as usual. K&R. nt

[Cha]

3. I am disgusted with the Arizona lawmakers

and stand in Solidarity with our Latino Brothers and Sisters.

SI SE PUEDE!

[saltpoint]

4. I second Cha's disgust with the Arizona Legislature and reiterate my

disgust also with Gov. Brewer, whose signature on 1070 was cowardly and racist.

Can't beat this Eugene Robinson article for timeliness and oomph.

Y'all better damn well believe I'm recommending this post.

:thumbsup: