Arizona Immigration Law
In April of 2010, Arizona signed a new immigration law. The Arizona law states that all immigrants must carry their alien registration documents at all times and requires that law enforcement question anyone that they believe to be in the United States illegally. This law does not just target the immigrants themselves, but also the employers who hire them for labor.
There is a lot of controversy around this law. Many believe that it will cause an increase in racial profiling, and that many law enforcement officials will not look beyond race when they suspect and decide to question someone about their immigration status. I agree with this thought. Much of the population, whether they want to admit it or not, will make judgements about people just because of the way they look or what race they are. This law should be more specific in the reasons that a person can be stopped and asked for their immigration status, not just due to a suspicion that a law enforcement agent might have unless it is based on solid evidence/reason.
I believe that the government's focus should be more on preventing further illegal immigration then questioning the population that already resides in the United States. Also, to evaluate and check the individuals legal status if there is strong reason to believe that they may be here illegally. However, I do not agree with the process that the Arizona law has enforced which gives the power to the law enforcement agents to decide who to question about their legal status. Critics, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, argue that most police officers do not have enough training to look past race while investigating a person's legal status. So, if Arizona plans to keep/maintain this law then the government needs to properly train their employees so that there will be a lower risk for racial profiling to occur. Many other states are considering writing/implementing a law similar to Arizona's. I think that many more considerations and improvements should be made before finalizing a similar immigration law in other states.
My colleague, Johnny Albarran, has several good points on his feelings towards the Arizona immigration law that has recently been established. This law requires all immigrants to carry their alien registration papers at all times, because law enforcement can question anyone they suspect to be in the United States illegally.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I believe he is right about how this law increases the risk for law enforcement officials to suspect people of being here illegally based on appearance, that's just wrong. It is also a waste of time for law enforcement to harass the public since authorities are not adequately trained to suspect people beyond appearance.
My colleague also mentioned that the law also targets the employers of illegal immigrants. I think this is a good idea because employers should not be hiring illegally to save money on labor, and if there are less employers hiring illegal immigrants, then there could be less people immigrating illegally. Johnny believes that law enforcement should focus on preventing further immigration rather producing suspicions on those who already reside here, and I strongly agree with him on this idea.
Johnny Albarran has a good argument against the risk of racial profiling that can occur through the enforcement of this law that has caused much controversy, and other states that are concerned with illegal immigration should carefully implement a better approach to resolve illegal immigration issues than Arizona legislation.