The Arizona Immigration Law: A Mistake?

Yes, the 2010 Arizona immigration law is a mistake. I am writing this the day after passage of the legislation. Perhaps by the time you are reading it the law will have been found to be unconstitutional. If not, perhaps the law will be rescinded due to wiser ideas prevailing.

There are numerous problems with the law, some of which are not getting coverage in the press. To begin with, let's do a quick review of the highlights of the law, as best as I can decipher from reports online and in the news elsewhere. The police now have the right and the duty to stop anyone they suspect of being here illegally, to check for their immigration status.

It is said that they will not racially profile. Hmm... How are they supposed to suspect that the immigration status of a person is not legal? Do we really think they'll look at brown-skinned people in working clothes in the same way as a white man in a suit? Not likely.

It should be noted here that it is not a crime to be in the United States without proper documentation, contrary to what most people think. It is a civil matter. By the way, if it was a crime, deportation would not be so simple as it is now. We could be facing 12 million criminal cases with all the expense and trouble that entails - a virtual impossibility for our already stretched system.

Making merely being here a crime, as the Arizona law apparently does (fines and up to six months in jail), will result in an overloading of the judicial system if enforcement is to happen. Every illegal immigrant who is charged will have the right to a jury trial and most will be entitled to a court-appointed attorney.

One particularly awful consequence of the law will be less safety for all. It is assumed by some that deporting enough illegals will make Arizona safer - despite evidence that these residents commit crime at a lower rate than those who are here legally. In reality, the Arizona immigration law will make everyone less safe, for one crucial reason: Those who are not legal residents will no longer want to cooperate with law enforcement.

Think about a simple example. A man sees his neighbor assaulted, and the police come to interview him. Previously the police dealt only with crime, and had no interest in the immigration status of the people they dealt with. But now it is their duty to get this witness deported. How often do you think illegals will cooperate with police under these circumstances.

The law may stipulate that in these circumstances the police are not to enforce immigration policy, or they may make that the rule internally - but honestly, given the climate now created, would you want to have any involvement with the police if you were an undocumented resident?

Even worse, many immigrants will stop reporting crimes against themselves. Do we want to create a climate where a woman doesn't report a rapist because she fears deportation?

In addition to the problems of racial profiling and less cooperation with law enforcement, the general attitude indicated in such immigration laws is hurtful, to say the least. Most who read this and live in the United States have ancestors who came here without asking permission of those who resided here previously. Do you think of your great grandparents in the same way as you think of illegal aliens? If not, you might want to consider the subtle racism that plays a part in these debates.

Have we seriously asked the questions that all such laws are based on? In other words, how do we come to "own" a country and decide who gets to live in a given area and who doesn't? How do we know that we have a right to be here, but others do not? On what basis do we decide such things.

There are a lot of unexamined assumptions that went into the new Arizona immigration law, along with some unintended consequences that are not trivial.