Do I Look Undocumented To You?

Imagine every cop in your state was forced to do their job like that controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio or risk getting sued?

That’s what a new bill in Arizona, which could be signed into law by the Governor in a matter of days, would do! It would force cops to interrogate — even jail — people, based on whether or not people “look” like they have their papers in order.

Really, who judges what an undocumented immigrant looks like? Do I look undocumented, just because I have brown skin, eat guacamole, and listen to Carlos Santana? Do you?

I’m sorry, but that’s called racial profiling. That’s discrimination, period. We have a chance to stop it, but only if we raise our voices now.

This bill would push undocumented immigrants deeper into the shadows and make our communities less safe as victims and community members become more unwilling to report crime.  Today, too many Arizonans are afraid to call 911 because of the tactics of Sheriff Joe Arpaio and others like him.  S.B. 1070 would make this problem even worse.

The L.A. Times reported yesterday  that the Arizona ACLU fears this could easily be used to racially profile U.S. citizens who simply “have an accent” and “leave their wallet at home.”

If you live in Arizona, please tell Governor Brewer to veto this awful, un-American bill.

The bill passed the state house on a party line vote with all 35 Republicans voting in favor, 21 Democrats voting no and another 4 Democrats not voting.  In the long run, the bill is likely to go down in Arizona history as a political disaster for Republicans, but in the meantime real people will be afraid to walk their kids to school. Amazingly, the bill contains an ‘anti-discrimination’ provision that mirrors amendments that segregationist Senators tried to use to gut the 1964 civil rights act. It basically says that police can racially profile as long as race is not the only reason they interrogate you.  Senators rejected this kind of ploy in 1964 but Arizona lawmakers fell for it in 2010.

Truly a messed up situation.