I have to say that nothing that has happened in the political world in the last few months has made me as bitter as the Arizona legislation that allows search and arrest of suspected illegal immigrants.
Here is the core issue as I see it: Who, after all, is going to be suspected of being an illegal immigrant?
Writing in the NY Times, Kris Kobach, a law professor and former advisor to John Ashcroft, Atty General under GWB, says that the law forbids race as the sole consideration, and lays out a scenario for “reasonable suspicion” that conjures up an image of sweaty (and swarthy) young men crammed into a minivan that is speeding along a illegal alien smuggling corridor. Well, fine. A (I hate to use this much-derided-by-Jon-Stewart phrase) perfect storm of suspicious behavior, who can quarrel with that? On top of that, a country’s wish to regulate its borders, nothing wrong with that, either. Apparently close to 70% of Arizona ’s polled public approves of the law; hey, it’s a democracy, isn’t it?
Not so fast. The question is one of fairness. How is it possible to avoid racial profiling under this law (no matter what the pious sentiments expressed by Mr Korbach are)? Is it conceivable that every carload of blonde haired and blue eyed teenagers, acting evasively because they are concealing little baggies o’ goodies in the glove compartment, is going to be put through an immigration check? Wait; you say (I’m talking to you, blonde and blue eyed Young Republican friend of Maisy's Ma); a driver’s license is proof of legality in AZ; if they can show it, they’re free to go (unless of course they get busted for the pot). But you are not required to carry a license in AZ, dear blonde lady; now what? Is your cop going to suspect your young Aryan friends of being illegally smuggled from Mexico and arrest them, or is he going to give them a ticket for speeding and move on?
Or look at it this way. Two carloads of sweaty, evasive teenagers are pulled over. One is full of blonde, blue eyed kids wearing expensive clothes, the other of brown kids in shabby clothes. The cop has a choice (for whatever reason): check only one car for immigration status. What does the law say? Reasonable suspicion points to car number two – but why? Arizona is full of poor brown people who are there legally! So is it fair that only they get “reasonably” suspected?
Really, now, be honest. Distaste of greasy haired little brown folk and the smelly food they eat is allowed, of course, but their blatant persecution is not. People who claim it is unfair to those who come here legally are dodging the argument; the controversy in the law is not about illegal vs legal. The controversy is about racial profiling. People who claim that there is nothing wrong with carrying your driver’s license around (as a surrogate marker for legality) are fudging the issue. Since it is not a requirement of the law to carry your driver’s license, the only people who are now obligated to carry their driver’s license around are brown people. So stop dodging and fudging, seventy percent of Arizonians and anyone else who supports this law. Admit you don’t like brown people. Admitting the truth will set you free; free to wear your conical white hats.
