Turn to Section 2, Paragraph B, which states:
"For any lawful contact made by a 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."
Did you catch the part about "reasonable suspicion"?
How is a cop going to know by sight who is or isn't legal?
What about a person will elicit suspicion?
(I think we already know the answer.)
Ahh, I see what has you concerned: "...
"For any lawful contact made by a law enforcement official or agency of this state...".
This doesn’t bother me a bit. Why? Because I believe the media and amnesty advocates are totally misrepresenting it. I asked a couple of my neighbors (Mesa PD and AZ DPS) what this means to them and they both said the same thing (and I asked them at different times). Their answer was “Steve, here’s an example: if I pull over a car for speeding, or any other violation, and if during my conversation with the driver and/or occupants, I have reasonable suspicion that they are illegal, then I may begin a process to determine their status.” When I asked what might flag them, they BOTH said: No DL, no insurance, and an inability to speak English.
So I said “Okay, but what if they’re tourists…aren’t you harassing them? They might not know they need those documents.” To which I was informed (I knew this already) that to drive in ANY nation, you are required to have a DL and insurance. The language is NOT required. And if they’re tourists they must have either their national DL or an “Int’l DL” with them.
We also then talked about non-vehicular situations and they both were very convinced of what would constitute reasonable suspicion and what would NOT and the impression I got was they’d err on the side of “if in doubt, let it go because we're not going to put our jobs on the line because of the possibility of a law suit.”
I think realistically that this is actually how LE will use the law, NOT how the media shouts "...look, that person has brown skin...let's check them!" I realize a lot of folks in 40+ other states don’t like this, don’t necessarily agree with it, etc., but it’s gotten to be SUCH a problem here in AZ…here's a few small examples from my own life…
Here's the short one: my next door neighbor, US Postal Service worker, on Christmas eve in 2005 drives to the grocery store for some last minute things for Christmas dinner. Leaving the store he's T-Boned by a high speed car that ran a red light and is killed. He left a family of 3. The driver and passengers that killed him? Mexican nationals, illegally in the USA, fleeing a policeman.
Take it a step farther, I will tell you that ALL of us that live in the Phoenix metro area know exactly what street corners to go visit to find "day laborers" and they are NORMALLY illegals.
I've had workers come to the house with landscapers, home painters, etc., to do work that my wife and I have contracted with a company for and the entire crew will speak NO English, just Spanish (and these are ADULTS.) And I'll query the foreman about their crew and they'll sorta mumble a "usually" unintelligible answer, while NEVER looking me in the eye. Then they leave after explaining to the work crew what needs to be done.
And after they leave, I will go speak with the crew. And that shocks them because I'm a "Nordic" looking guy that speaks Castilian Spanish (Castellano.)
And when I mention that I work for the federal government, these workers will quickly find a reason to leave my property and won't return. This has caused much "angst" with the companies that were hired to do the work because "I" chased off their work crew. I wonder how many of those workers were legally in the country?
Also...those of us in the Phoenix metro area (Valley of the Sun) can probably take you to every known street corner where illegals congregate looking for day-labor jobs. They crowd the streets, cause accidents, and make a general mess/nuisance in the area. We actually had to pass a law to make blocking the roads/right of way, a ticketable offense because of how bad this has become!
As a side note, and to show you how bad it has become in some areas, I know folks (ostensibly adults) that, for “fun”, will drive dark SUV's to those areas, race up, stop suddenly, throw open doors, jump out and holler:
¡Inmigración! (Spanish for Immigration)
And then watch the mass exodus of humanity.
Do I think "racial profiling" will occur...sure; it does now to ALL folks... Picture the police APB: "...we have a suspect, white male, 20-30, 6', 190lbs..." and then ANYONE that fits that description will be stopped and questioned by police. And the FIRST thing the LEO will ask for is IDENTIFICATION!
Why is it nobody objects to that as a problem but take it to any "class" other than "white" and it becomes "racial profiling" and violations of the constitution, etc... That description will get ALL "white males" that fit that profile stopped and checked out. Won't get many other folks stopped.
Now...take that to the Phoenix area...and a briefing by Law Enforcement
"...at the corner of Country Club and Chandler we have reports of up to 80 hispanic males, congregating around a 7-11, jaywalking, blocking traffic, and hopping into pickup truck beds and flagging down vehicles. Check this out please."
Now...why would this flag anyone in LE? Because when ICE officials raid these "groups" they are almost 100% illegal immigrants. And what they're doing (loitering en masse, blocking traffic, etc.) is against the law.
So why would it be "racial profiling" to go check this out?
The real problem here is that our own federal government has totally ignored the issue for decades. And now we have one side of government that wants a blanket amnesty for all (reward the lawbreakers.) The problem with that is that when that happened in 1986 and we said "we won't do that ever again..." the result was a flood of illegal immigration because folks firmly believed that we WOULD do it again because the winds of PC are such that we will NEVER make an effort to arrest and deport these folks as we did in the 1950's. The PAC's simply have plenty of money and political pull among elected officials to ensure this doesn't happen.
I look at my family...they came to this country after standing in line for years...waiting for that dreamed for day when the USA said: "Yes, you may now come to America!" And they did, straight to NYC and Ellis Island...and quarantine...and mandatory learning of English. And they did all that because they were here to start a new life, to better what they had, and to provide for their families because those opportunities didn't exist in their home country. And proudly framed and displayed in the position of honor in the living room of my GGrandparents home? Their naturalization certificates. This was such a big deal to them, and our family, that I remember that display and that was when I was less than 10 years old.
Yes, this is obviously a “hot button” for me, the normally quiet ALO. But it’s just very hard to watch students of ALL ethnic backgrounds struggling SO HARD to attain goals that are both admirable and mercilessly difficult! And to speak to them about honor, integrity, duty, etc., but then have them see both elected and non-elected public officials openly flouting our laws, as well as major businesses and universities, etc, what example does that set for the young man/woman that aspires to service? Did you know that in California (where I work at an AFB) if you are illegal, you get FREE college? And you are able to get home loans, etc., from BofA? I can well understand why so many of them are “confused” and why they ask me, and others, the questions they do.
On this Luigi (and others) we will agree to disagree.
Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
