On Friday, Governor Jan Brewer signed SB 1070.
In case you spent last week in a deep coma, SB 1070 was the bill proposed by state Sen. Russell Pearce (R-Mesa). As a new law, it criminalizes undocumented presence in Arizona, and requires law enforcement officers to check the status of anyone who “reasonably” looks like a noncitizen.
To be clear, the new law doesn’t just require officers to check the status of crime suspects. It requires officers to check anyone that “reasonably” looks to be undocumented. And no, a driver’s license does not prove citizenship, no matter how many times The Arizona Republic makes that claim.
Some proponents want this law to curb an influx of illegal immigrants. But a report released earlier this year by Homeland Security’s Office of Immigration Statistics suggests that our undocumented population is actually decreasing nationwide, in step with our economic contraction. According to the report, almost a million illegal immigrants left in 2008 alone.
Other supporters seem to be motivated by the murder of Arizona rancher Robert Krentz by a suspected illegal immigrant. But it’s unclear, at best, how stopping Latinos on the streets of Phoenix would have kept Krentz safe in a remote area of southern Arizona.
SB 1070’s passage in our state legislature unleashed a national outcry. The New York Times called it “mean spirited,” and President Barack Obama called it “misguided.” Stephen Colbert mocked it thoroughly, and Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles compared it to Nazi tactics. But Brewer seemed likely to sign it anyways.
So I went down to the Capitol last Thursday and Friday, to see who was fighting back. You know what I saw? I saw thousands of Hispanic high school students, many of whom had simply walked out of school. They were angry and they were organized. But they were largely alone.
I didn’t see large groups of Asians, Blacks, or Arabs, which is too bad, because policing policies based on skin tone threaten people of all colors, not just one.
I didn’t see large groups of white conservatives, which was confusing, because I’m not sure how the police state squares with limited government and individualism.
I didn’t see large groups of white liberals, which surprised me, because I always thought civil liberties were a big liberal concern.
I didn’t see large religious organizations, which seemed strange since the Arizona Ecumenical Council — including Catholic Bishops, Protestant church leaders and Jewish Rabbis — wrote the governor to urge a veto.
So where was everybody?
Maybe the truth is that Arizona voters don’t give a damn about racial profiling; after all, we keep re-electing Joe Arpaio. Arpaio staked his career on racial profiling when he defied police departments, mayors, and the federal government to continue running his immigration sweeps.
A recent Rasmussen poll suggested that 70 percent of Arizonans support the new law. That includes the 30 percent of Arizonans who support the law even though they think it will lead to civil rights violations.
Ben Franklin said that those who give up liberty for safety “deserve neither liberty nor safety.” We gave up big liberties last week, and I’m not sure we even got any safety for it.
John is a law student, reach him at john.a.gaylord@asu.edu