Arizon Immigration Law and YOU! Because Knowledge is Power!

FIRST YOU CAN VIEW THE BILL HERE

I'm sure by now you've all heard this all over the news, but I figured I would take it upon myself to read the entire bill! Yes, I did take the 20min to sit down read it front to back and really understand all 16 pages, of course being a hard working senator I do take it as my duty to read each bill that is put in front of me, oh wait I'm not, I should've had someone else read it for me and tell me what to think.

Anyways, the focus for me is really what can be done by police officers on the street, parts that I'm glossing over or leaving out entirely are employment, contracting, and transportation parts of the law. Obviously I could speak to these parts of the law but for the sake of time and sanity I'll just focus on one topic here. So consider the subtitle of this article to be "Somebody stop me!"

I took down a list of pros and cons, really only focusing on things that were strong in either direction some are word for word from the document itself (found here) others are summarized versions due to lengthy writing.

Pros

I've got three that I'd like to mention so here they are:
1. Found on page 3 lines 27-40. A brief summary of this section would be that it makes the punishment for being found illegal in Arizona a tiered punishment system. Those who are found just violating the immigration law receive a Class 1 Misdemeanor (up to 12months in jail, up to $2500 fine, either or both). Those who are found in violation of immigration law AND have be found in violation of it before receive a Class 4 Felony (2-10yrs in jail, up to $100,000 fine). Finally, those who are in violation of immigration law AND, a short summary, have guns/drugs are charged with a Class 3 felony (5-20yrs in jail, up to $100,000 fine).

I really think this is important, I for one do not feel that all illegal immigrants are the same. The case can be made that a mother and children can hope to find a better life here in America and they may be illegal but they're also not the devil. If the judge sees fit he can provide a slap on the wrist.

2. Found on page 6 lines 28-30
"The attorney general or county attorney shall not investigate complaints that are based solely on race, color or national origin."

3. Found on page 6 lines 41-43 is the portion that allows for the punishment for those who try to file claims just because they believe a company is employing illegals based on their skin color and without any factual basis for making the claim. It makes it a class 3 misdemeanor to knowingly file a false claim of illegal employment.

2 and 3 go hand in hand in at least attempting to prevent racism, not all Mexicans are illegal, and not all Mexicans look Mexican. This can go a long way to preventing false claims and is definitely a needed provision in the bill.

I'd post a few more pros but they're things that I think would be assumed so I'll just post a short summary. Police and other government officials cannot stop anyone for presuming they are illegal. A crime must have been committed, or the person must already be presumed to have committed a crime that would make them removable from the United States before they can be stopped. So you won't just have cops stopping everyone of color asking for their immigration documents.

NOW FOR THE CONS!

On the original posting of this blog I had expressed the view that using the language found on page 1 lines 22-24:
"Where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States, a reasonable attempt shall be made, when practicable, to determine the immigration status of the person."

Was seemingly leaving the door open to racial profiling, my suggestion was to change it to make it clear that those who can be reasonably thought of to be from Mexico could be questioned of their residency or citizenship.

I have recently rethought this position, and have decided that the language as it stands is well enough. The reason behind this change is that it would completely close the door on the ability of government officials to question a person who could be here illegally that does not look Mexican but is acting suspicious and could be assisting someone to cross the border illegally.

This is a very difficult topic and I'll continue to think over my position on this bill but as for right now this is how I see the bill. At this time there are no real pitfalls to the bill and like I note below if you have any questions about my stance please ask.

Lastly, there are more sections in this law dealing with a myriad of situations and I think they were all handled extremely well. For the sensitivity of the issue and complexity the amount of detail and precision with which the bill was written is astonishing, and I applaud those involved.

Again, I'd like to invite anyone to comment on the article and I'd be more than happy to answer any questions about my views and the bill. Thank you, Brandon Rising.