Try Again Arizona

At Yale, by the end of the semester, the above image had become the Facebook profile picture of several undergraduate students, especially from the Hispanic and Latin American communities.

It’s true though: whoever he is, he is one cute kid.

On campus, he became the poster child for the protest against Arizona Senate Bill (SB) 1070: Support our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighbors Act.  They joined over 1 million Facebook protesters, 70 American cities, several prominent human rights organizations – including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the American Civil Liberties Union – and even President Obama in decrying the law, which they claimed made racial profiling permissible and gave police unprecedented power.

I was also predisposed to criticize Arizona senators for passing such an ignorant law, which basically seemed born out of prejudice and racism.  But then I heard this: the contingent of (mostly Democrat) congresspeople who have come out against SB1070 have been criticized by the bill’s supporters for not reading the actual document.  Even Attorney General Eric Holder has admitted to not giving it a read.  So I read the 17- page document here.

Here’s the thing: although the statutes of the bill are largely disagreeable, in my view, what the bill aims to do, is not.  Illegal immigrants, in their poverty and desperation, often become involved in scam “get-rich-quick” schemes – no “money-to-live” schemes – at the expense of their human rights and the right to security of others.  Since they’re illegally in the country, many of them are forced to make a buck in illegal ways.  From drug trafficking to human trafficking, pawns in gang violence to sweat shop laborers, the industries that illegal immigrants are coerced to serve in, pose a real threat to their neighbors (as well as their own livelihoods).  As a recent Newsweek article puts it, “Arizona Isn’t Crazy, Only Wrong”.  The article explains that Arizonans live in real fear: illegal immigrants provide the human resources for extremely dangerous criminals to carry out their dirty work.  So while the illegal immigrants themselves may just be looking for a decent wage to send home to their impoverished families, their presence and their activities on behalf of their employers, is dangerous.  Cracking down on illegal immigrants is a way for Arizona to crack down on the even bigger baddies.

But this new law, is not the way to do that.  America needs a system for immigrants, particularly those from Mexico, to enter the United States legally.  SB 1070 actually presents a setback to the illegal immigrant problem.  Below is the first excerpt that made me doubt the effectiveness of SB 1070.

Section 2: E. A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER, WITHOUT A WARRANT, MAY ARREST A PERSON IF THE OFFICER HAS PROBABLE CAUSE TO BELIEVE THAT THE PERSON HAS COMMITTED ANY PUBLIC OFFENSE THAT MAKES THE PERSON REMOVABLE FROM THE UNITED STATES.

Arresting someone without a warrant gives the law enforcement dangerous arbitrary power.  While the arrest may be motivated by ‘probable cause’, something mandated by the Constitution, this section of the bill may actually further undermine the security of Arizonans by potentially putting innocent people at risk of being arrested.  Given the ambiguity of ‘probable cause’, the fear is that people who look Mexican, (the population that makes up most of the illegal immigrants since they cross over right at the Texas border), may become more susceptible to police harassment.  To me, what is more urgently problematic, is the fact that such a mentality vilifies a particular race of people, generating even more divisiveness and fear.  An entire group of people, even if they are living in Arizona legally, suddenly becomes stigmatized.

Although Governor Jan Brewer has promised that police will exercise discretion in making arrests, and emphasized that we must trust our law enforcement, another aggressive stipulation of SB 1070 counteracts her reassurances that civil liberties will be upheld.

Section 2: G. A PERSON MAY BRING AN ACTION IN SUPERIOR COURT TO CHALLENGE ANY OFFICIAL OR AGENCY OF THIS STATE OR A COUNTY, CITY, TOWN OR OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THIS STATE THAT ADOPTS OR IMPLEMENTS A POLICY THAT LIMITS OR RESTRICTS THE ENFORCEMENT OF FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LAWS TO LESS THAN THE FULL EXTENT PERMITTED BY FEDERAL LAW.

According to this part of SB 1070, law enforcement have an incentive to make more arrests, or else face the consequences of communities that are motivated by fear to sue their police forces.  And, on the flip side, illegal immigrants now have even less incentive than before to get in touch with law enforcement if their human rights are being abused by criminals who offer them a chance to stay in America, in exchange for the immigrants’ dignity.  As one Democrat, Tom Chabin, explained SB 1070, “distracts local police from priorities  that keep communities safe.  It distracts them from going after real criminals, and directs their attention to someone who wants to rake someone’s lawn.”

Perhaps a better way to make neighborhoods safe would be to provide a reason for illegal immigrants to notify law enforcement about criminals – an incentive like, a simpler process for naturalization.  Naturalizing immigrants who are not American citizens would not detract from jobs, but in fact enhance our trampled economy;  it would not turn America into a second Mexico but add to the diversity that makes us America in the first place; it would not make America less safe but even more safe.

SB 1070 has a good aim: to reduce human rights violations and secure Arizonans.  But it has a bad strategy: targeting illegal immigrants in ways that jeopardize the rule of law actually enhances the problem.  It does not necessarily lead to the prosecutions of individuals who, living comfortably as American citizens, exploit the impoverished, homeless, scared, and abandoned immigrants coming over the border.

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