"Mississippi's immigration enforcement bill is about politics. ..pandering to...fear and xenophobia.

[pampango]

Repubs and teabaggers are going "Arizona" on Mississippi.

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20110116/COL0408/101160305/1167/OPINION/The-only-suspicion-is-reason-for-bill

"Mississippi's immigration enforcement bill is about politics. It is pandering to the worst instincts of fear and xenophobia."

"Some members of the Mississippi Legislature (you can guess from which party and supported by which group of people with funny hats and misspelled signs) are pressing ahead with immigration enforcement bills fashioned after the punitive and controversial law in Arizona."

""Reasonable suspicion" should scare any American who may not look like a majority of people in a community or the arresting officer. Too many Mississippians have been down that dark road before."

And, like most politically inspired legislation, it is a solution in search of a problem. Illegal immigration is not a real issue in Mississippi. It may be in Arizona, it may be nationally, but not in Mississippi, not now.
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http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20110117/OPINION/101170319

Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, who's running for governor this year, is among the most outspoken supporters of a bill making its way through the Mississippi Capitol. It would allow a law enforcement officer to check a person's immigration status during a traffic stop or other encounter, if the officer suspects the person might be in the United States illegally.

This past week, the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance led a rally with about 80 people to denounce the proposal. Among the speakers was Derrick Johnson, president of the Mississippi chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Johnson said many Latinos come to the United States seeking work to improve their families' lives, and the immigration bill could lead to racial profiling against anybody who looks Latino.

"Any legislation that discriminates against Latinos, discriminates against African-Americans," Johnson said.

The next day, tea party activists and other supporters of the immigration status-check legislation attended a Senate committee meeting to show support for the bill. Dr. Rodney Hunt, a Jackson-area surgeon, said 75 people stood and gave a sustained round of applause after the bill passed.