ARIZONA SB 1070: JUST PLAIN WRONG

Before I get into it, let me be fair. There are border issues. No one can sit and say that there aren't, and to downplay the problem is part of the reason why Arizona's SB 1070 came into existence. Arizona was fed up with waiting on the federal government to do something that they felt was "real" and "tangible" about border security so they took matters into their own hands.

SB 1070 was the "fix" that was created because of problems that were not "perceived" but rather the "reality" of everyday life in Arizona. That being said the "solution" of SB 1070 also known as the "Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act" is a grossly inappropriate piece of legislation because of the negative consequences that it will create. I'm going to use a couple of simple parts from the bill to demonstrate why in my opinion, this is the case.

THE BILL ITSELF

The bill starts off like any other giving you your basic jargon of this is why we spent time writing this piece of legislation.

"The provisions of this act are intended to work together to discourage and deter the unlawful entry and presence of aliens and economic activity by persons unlawfully present in the United States."

Honestly, with the above "idea" I can't find that much wrong with it because it's saying that we need to protect our borders, it's what comes after that creates the problem.

"A person may bring an action in superior court to challenge any official or agency of this state or a county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state that adopts or implements laws to less than the full extent permitted by federal law."

Just from a purely legal standpoint, there have been complaints by Americans for years that the system is backlogged and flawed. So now, in essence part of this law will serve to add to that very complaint that many people had about the justice system to begin with.

Essentially anyone can challenge whether a state entity has adequately enforced SB 1070 whether it's justified or not. The frivolous actions alone will tie up Arizona's courts for years to come if this law is allowed to take effect.

And let me not forget the most damaging part of all this.

"For any lawful contact made by law enforcement official or agency of this state or a county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States, a reasonable attempt shall be made, when practicable, to determine the immigration status of the person."

"Where reasonable suspicion exists." What exactly is going to be the criteria that defines what reasonable suspicion means? And who's to say that the "officials" that get to decide what that criteria is won't abuse that at times and put people who are American citizens through the humiliating and discriminatory process of having to prove their citizenship? It's no wonder why people are up in arms about this creating a new form of "racial profiling." And it's not just activists and community leaders saying this but officials as well. When one of your own is questioning the validity of a bill, that's cause to reassess and make sure it's the right way to go. Arizona's own, Pima County Sheriff, Clarence Dupnik has called the law stupid and said that it will cause them to racially profile.

THE FACTOR OF RACE

The above serves as the perfect segway to my last point, which is the matter of race. It's always a touchy subject amongst Americans, and it should be. Why you may ask? It is and will continue to be "touchy" because we still don't know how to adequately address race and will keep repeating the same mistakes until we do.

The reason why this bill immediately brings up that issue is because it essentially says if you don't "look" like you belong here or are a "foreigner" you can conceivably be stopped and questioned by the police and be forced to produce papers or documents to prove your citizenship, even if you're already a citizen.

So what does it mean to look like you don't belong here? What does a foreigner look like exactly? If you even start to answer any of the aforementioned two questions that's an issue and therein lies the problem. There is no list of traits or characteristics that can define what "not belonging" or a "foreigner" looks like. And when you try to create one and subsequently divide people based on their ethnicity when many of them are U.S. citizens it creates a cauldron that may boil over and wind up burning Arizona.