The Arizona Law: Hysteria Vs. Reality

The weekend May Day rallies capped off a week of establishment denunciation of Arizona for enacting a law that empoweres local police to arrest people who are in the country illegally, and turn them over to federal authorities for deportation.

By now virtually every American has heard the hysterical chants from the political-media establishment:

• ‘Toughest anti-immigrant law in American history.”
• “Racial profiling will target all persons with brown skin.”
• “Just like Nazi Germany – police will demand ‘your papers.'”
  

President Obama’s remarks were outrageous.  In a campaign style speech he attacked the law and the people of Arizona:

Now, suddenly, if you don’t have your papers, and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you’re going to get harassed — that’s something that could potentially happen… That’s not the right way to go.

Later, on Air Force I, Obama told reporters:

What I think is a mistake is when we start having local law enforcement officials empowered to stop people on the suspicion that they may be undocumented workers …”

It seems the media and most government officials, from the President on down have either not read the law or have decided to lie about it.

The truth:

• Arizona is suffering a wave of violent crime committed by Mexican gang thugs who cross the border illegally.  Congress refuses to do what is necessary to secure the border and keep people from from crossing without permission.
  
• In compliance with long-standing Supreme Court rulings, the new law does not permit the police to stop or initiate contact with someone without probable cause.  “Being brown” does not does not qualify as probable cause.
• Police are required to consider a drivers license or a non-driving state ID card proof of citizenship or legal residence.
• If after the police initiate contact upon probable cause they find that the person has no license or state ID, and if there is some reason to suspect that person might be an illegal alien, the police are then empowered to ask for proof of legal presence in the U.S.
• Federal law requires every non-citizen who is in the country legally to carry government iessued documentation of his/her legal status.  These are in the form ID cards, not “papers.“