To give some background, on April 23rd, 2010, Arizona Governor Brewer signed into effect a law that criminalized being present in Arizona without proper immigration paperwork.  Further, the new law authorizes Arizona State police officers to stop and check persons, who they reasonably suspect to be undocumented aliens, and ask for immigration paperwork.  Moreover, the law also bars individuals from hiring or soliciting day laborers from the street. The law is set to take effect on July 29, 2010 unless an injunction is issued by the district court to stop it. 

 

The Arizona law specifically provides that police officers are not permitted to use racial profiling.  However, from a common sense perspective, it’s unclear how Arizona police officers would be able to identify undocumented persons without using ethnicity or race as a main factor in their determination.  As such, this law would invariably lead to racial profiling of U.S. citizens and non-citizens.  In fact, this is the very argument made by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other civil rights groups in their law suits filed to stop the Arizona law.  In an ACLU press release issued on July 22, 2010, Omar Jadwat, staff attorney with the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project commented on the discriminatory effects of the Arizona law saying:

 

"Any law that requires law enforcement to ask people they stop and suspect of being undocumented for their ‘papers' violates the U.S. Constitution and the American values of fairness and equality. This law is a clear invitation for racial profiling, and we're confident that the court will understand the importance of preventing it from ever taking effect."

 

Arizona Governor Brewer points to increased violence and the general the need for more enforcement to stop the flow of illegal immigration into Arizona as a basis for its new immigration law.  We all agree that there is a problem with immigration enforcement and our current immigration system; however, Arizona’s new law does not address these problems.  The Arizona law only creates new problems.

 

The United States is a country that was built by immigrants and it has a living constitution that we strive to enforce.  In times of crises we should seek to employ solutions that enhance and abide by our federal constitution rather than trample upon the principles it promulgates.  Under our constitution there should be equal treatment for all.  Therefore, racial profiling has no place in our society and should never be accepted.  I hope that Judge Susan Bolton’s ruling reflects that sentiment.