So you are walking along in Arizona and a big fancy police car pulls up next to you. You are a hispanic man and you have a hoodie on. You are walking thru a semi gated community because you do not have a car and it is the shortest route home. You have been detailing and washing cars all day and you are dead tired.
They have the right to pull up to you and ask if you are a citizen of the United States and detain you until they know if you are or are not.
Say you are a tall white woman walking along the streets of downtown Phoenix. You have to hurry because you told friends you would meet them and you are late. You jaywalk to get closer faster and a cop car pulls up along side you. They question you about jay walking and give you a ticket. They also ask you if you are a citizen of the United States. You show them your drivers license and they let you go.
The police now have the right to ask anyone if they are a citizen. Anyone?
A tall black man is running through an alley outside Tuscon. He is jogging but didn't have time to change into his spandex so he is running in shorts and a black t shirt. He is sweating and stressed out from his job at Walmart. The cops pull up next to him in a car and he is asked if he is a citizen of the United States. They are looking for a man who just committed a robbery in another block and they saw him running. He is taken into custody and found to be from Ethiopia with no papers or record of his entry into the country. He is turned over to the Federal Goverment for deportation.
The Supreme Court ruled that the cops have the right to ask anyone at anytime in Arizona if they are United States Citizens. They might be asking you tomorrow so you better have your ID ready. But that really won't help because ID can be forged. You will need to be sure you are not in the computer bank of information on immigrants. You will need to have a drivers permit or passport or what? to prove that you are a citizen of the United States. How many of us have no car and no passport?
If you are Latino you can be asked if you are a citizen even if you are just sitting in the shade at the local park with your wife and kids. You can be taken into custody until your citizenship is proved. You are more likely to be asked because you are Latino. You are being racially profiled and there is nothing you can do about that in Arizona.
There are people who are keeping track of who is arrested under this law to make sure they are not being racially profiled. You can be thankful there are people like that who will be watching as Arizona trains its policemen to ask people every day if they are citizens. They will have to prove that they did not pick you out because of the way you looked.
I am a very suspious, tall, white haired woman. I am afraid to go to Arizona. That place is dangerous for someone who looks like me.
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Comments
A person running in street clothes matching a description of a robbery suspect being questioned by police? What, should they not comb the area? Should people driving vehicles that match the description of a child molester be pissed that they're pulled-over & questioned?
What exactly are you bitchin' about? Isn't an ID required for driving, flying, opening a bank account, registering to vote, buying alcohol & tobacco, etc. etc. etc.?
He wanted to see our ID's, even my niece and nephews. He thought Nicky was Mexican. (he's a mx of Icelandic and Pakistani, a tall dark viking) He did find it unusual that we were from Iceland and that we thought nothing of going out in the desert to stargaze.
I asked him what the problem was, explaining I wasn't aware of any desert restrictions. He then told us about the drug smugglers and human traffickers, all armed and very dangerous. There had been incidents at farms and parks near the borders. It wasn't safe, he told us. the police had been doing spot checks on vehicles and pedestrians to make sure no trouble makers snuck in. It makes sense to me. I've been asked to show papers in several countries. It's no big deal. You can get a non driver resident ID and the motor vehicle office.
Most of us live in the real world. "What-if" scenarios are good for late night, booze-laden philosophy/meaning-of-life sessions. And, blogs, I guess.
But if you're into speculation, please do share what you believe goes through the mind of an Arizona police officer before s/he pulls over someone "just because".
Won't they have a shitload of paperwork to fill-out? Don't they have friends & family who have a ethnic profile similar to those hypothetical citizens that they're going to harrass? Don't they have a shift-captain or other superior who will ask why they are wasting time doing BS pull-overs instead of performing meaningful patrols/crime work?
There's bad apples in every profession, including law enforcement. But to believe that Arizona has turned into a police state with nearly-all cops going on profile pull-over rampages, is just crazy-talk.
what's his name..forgive me..
when u need him.
mass goddamn exodus OUT OF ARIZONA.
provide places , jobs, contacts, etc to yr fellow refugees...
then see
what happens to the economy.
ethnically. personally? i am ultimate WASP.
german/english /scottish
but i have been arrested many times.
i know how it feels. but what these poor folk dont know is;
the feeling of
solid citizens (my weird but respectable family)
behind me. raising a stink.
another plan: get solid respectables converted to f-ing reality.
in 2030, the southwest is gonna be mexican, culturally.
get good with them now. they are a most generous people.
The supreme court left it open for this law to be challenged if it can be shown that it is used for racial profiling.
I hate borders and I believe all people are equal. We need to legalize Marijuana and get the crazy vigilantes out of border control. It is going to get ugly. It already is.
I think the gun running the government did to follow guns to the gangs was a bad idea too. Obama and Holder think that too now.
Thank you James. Peace.
ID has never been required for walking down the street while looking a "certain way", as far as I know. That's what we're talking about here.
Now that the law has been tested, look for the part that wasn't overturned to be duplicated in many states.
I have no idea how it will work in Arizona if you're suspected of not being here legally. I know there have been more than a few cases of citizens who were not carrying their birth certificates and were arrested for being here illegally in more than one state. They are put in jail, transferred to a prison and wound up deported to their country of nationality before being allowed to make a call home. They don't have the rights of a citizen, don't get the Phone Call, aren't held to a standard for medical treatment or care, they're assumed illegal aliens.
The corporation$ get paid by the federal government for those pri$oner$ who are held during the proce$$ to deport them. It doesn't cost the state or county a dime to house them, unlike prisoners who are citizens. It seems to occur mainly in areas where those corporate pri$on$ are and those prisons bring jobs. The arresting local police officers must do what they're told to do by their superiors. There is speculation as to why this benefits us all since small farmers depend on these workers and it keeps the price of food down for Americans. It's possible this is a case of follow the money and, of course it's being studied right now. It shouldn't take more than a few more years for the dots to be connected by the public.
In the meantime, more people will come illegally and those jobs will get done, and the only cost is the money the fed pays those privatized facilities. If you ask me this is brilliant. The American people are furious with all other areas of deficit spending and pushing for cutbacks in most areas but this one. They're finally growing tired of the numerous scandals associated with the war machine, there is sympathy now for damaged veterans as well as innocents killed in countries we make war in. There is little interest in what happens to those who are housed and then deported and it will not stop the flow, there will simply be more people coming in to be deported so this is really a golden opportunity. It seems completely logical to me.
By the time I got to OS today and its only 9 am you were not on my right side feed. Usually I find you in the 4 hour feed on the front.
So many people are not going to be read because of this new past day feed and it's a shame.
HUGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Spandex? (chuckle) Yeah, right.
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