Immigration reform bill borders on racial profiling
By Andrew Hedlund March 30, 2010 at 6:15 pm 
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One of the cornerstones of conservatism is limited government. As a result, many would think that Republican legislators would favor bills that restrain the scope of the government.
However, the Arizona House of Representatives is hearing House Bill 2632, a radical immigration reform bill. The bill expands the power of state authorities.
According to Section 2, Clause E of HB 2632, “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.”
This clause gives law officers permission to arrest people without warrant. Under this new law, illegal immigrants can be arrested for simply being in the United States on grounds of trespassing.
“I think this will open the door to more racial profiling,” said Rep. Anna Tovar, D-Tolleson. “It is an attack on immigrants trying to find work in this country.”
Law enforcement officials would be given the ability to arrest a citizen carte blanche. Apparently, Arizona has not learned from its national embarrassment of the federal investigation involving Sheriff Joe Arpaio and accusations of racial profiling.
“One thing that Democrats support is making sure that those who are here legally are treated fairly and respectfully, not racially profiled,” Tovar said.
The law would require cities and towns to increase patrols, which would result in more police training. When the budgets for public safety is already stretched thin, how many more hits can they take?
“This is an unfunded mandate,” Tovar said.
A press release put out by the city of Tempe disclosed some figures to back up this statement. The city must cut 215 employees, both full-time and part-time; 139 of these positions are within the police department. This was the result of $30 million in cuts from the city’s budget.
Tempe is not alone. The city of Chandler is facing a potential budget deficit of $40 million come fiscal year 2013-14. With a lack of funds, implementing this reform would be difficult, if not impossible.
From the party that advocates itself as the party of fiscal responsibility, it seems strange that they would put mandates on cities and towns without providing funding.
“We need to give law enforcement the tools they need to secure our borders and this includes funding,” Tovar said.
One would hope possibility of racial profiling and lack of funding would be enough to kill this bill, but this is not the case. According to the Associated Press, the House Committee of Military Affairs and Public Safety heard it on March 31. It will likely pass the full House and be reconciled with the version the State Senate has already passed. It will then become law.
With discrimination and fiscal responsibility at stake, we must say no to this type of immigration reform. Not only is this bill a grave mistake, it deserves to see the grave.
Reach Andrew at andrew.hedlund@asu.edu
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Categories: Opinion
Tags: HB 2632 immigration
There has been limited headline news about the irrational death of the land owner in Arizona by an illegal alien, as the footprints found by authorities said it led to the US-Mexican border. For too long the border has remained open, so it's up to Arizona and states legislators to demand the full implementation of the National Guard and not just as observers at the border in previous years? The heinous slaughter of Robert Krentz, a humanitarian Rancher who administered aid, to lost, desperate or injured illegal aliens proves the insecurity at the border. The indifference and blame should fall squarely in the hands of both political parties, The protection of citizens should be the first tenant of whatever administration is in the White House and not pandering to wealthy special interests, whose agenda is a wide open border; no matter the consequences? Even a mass AMNESTY is on the table, to hxxx with the American people. It should be a priority specifically now since the escalation of the drug war has transgressed the US-Mexican border and entered our communities like a toxic cloud. Operation Jump Start, which began in June 2006, was designed to give the Border Patrol some breathing space until it could hire thousands of additional agents and build hundreds of miles of border fence. National Guard troops watched the border from observation towers, flying spotter aircraft and built roads, fences and vehicle barriers; but could not conduct arrests. They also helped with paperwork to free up more agents for reconnaissance.
Permanent establishment of these troops should be stationed along the full length of the border as federal agents are undermanned and have limited resources to stop the encroachment of drug smugglers.Once past the initial surveillance sectors, law enforcement are even more restricted with limited manpower. For years Ranchers and landowners have pleaded with politicians to protect them from this relentless invasion of foreign nationals. Under this constant threat they have had to barricade themselves into their homes, as many have been burglarized, fences cut, cattle killed along with the never ending stream of people who may be armed. This is an abhorrent outrage when citizens live in incessant fear, because decades of administrations have intentionally ignored stopping this travesty. It's a proven fact that the single fence could never halt the invasion from the Southern side, but if constructed as with the design of Rep. Duncan Hunter of two layers that can be seen for fifty miles between San Diego and the Pacific Ocean.
THE US GOVERNMENT IS NOT EVEN TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FENCE. IN MANY AREAS. IT IS STILL THREE RUSTY STANDS OF BARBED WIRE OR AT THE MOST CONCRETE CONCRETE VEHICLE BARRIERS THAT ANYBODY CAN BYPASS. commitment of this nature would have had a 99. percent success rate of terminating a large proportion of elicit drug traffic if the original construction had been observed. One wonders why bother with a single band across the country, when a two two layer barrier with a distinctive middle lane between, would have been a perfect no-mans land to apprehend illegal immigrants, drug smugglers, terrorist and a whole list of unwanted riff-Raff. The death of Mr. Krentz brings to the forefront the desperate plight of our own, and the significance of this complete disregard for their safety. But right now we need the–NATIONAL GUARD–on the border to stop this travesty of our immigration laws. Call your Representative in Washington. Jam the switchboard.at 202-224-3121. Don't relieve the pressure on those in Washington or the state level. Learn more about the statistics of illegal immigration at http://www.numbersusa.com The corruption in the Capitol at http://www.judicialwatch.org.