Arizona Immigration Law to Be Examined By Justice Dept.

The U.S. Justice Department should challenge an unjust, racist and unenforceable new immigration law in Arizona that will only encourage racial profiling and make undocumented immigrants more of a target for criminals. The extreme law is further evidence of the need for a nationwide reform of this country's immigration laws.

According to the AP:

Current law in Arizona and most states doesn't require police to ask about the immigration status of those they encounter, and many police departments prohibit officers from inquiring out of fear immigrants won't cooperate in other investigations.

The new law makes it a crime under state law to be in the country illegally. Immigrants unable to produce documents showing they are allowed to be in the United States could be arrested, jailed for up to six months and fined $2,500. Other provisions allow lawsuits against government agencies that hinder enforcement of immigration laws, and the law makes it illegal to hire illegal immigrants for day labor or knowingly transport them. Arizona officers would arrest people found to be undocumented and turn them over to federal immigration officers. Opponents said the federal government can block the law by refusing to accept them.

President Barack Obama has called the law "misguided" and instructed the Justice Department to examine its legality. I expect a challenge to the law shortly for several reasons.

First of all, the law is a blatant violation of people's civil rights and due process. Asking individuals for documentation based solely on the suspicion that they are illegal immigrants is too broad of a standard. That would be similar to arresting people simply because I suspect that they are a criminal. Even when arresting people suspected of crimes, police have to have valid, verifiable suspicions, or they open themselves up to false arrest lawsuits.

Second, the law is illegal because it codifies racial and ethnic discrimination. Who are the individuals that police are going to be stopping? It certainly isn't going to be most Caucasians. I doubt someone will stop police and say that person looks like he is from England. Mexican Americans, and anyone of color, are the prime targets of this legislation. This law encourages xenophobia. What about Mexican Americans and other people of color who are legal residents but keep getting stopped and harassed by police? Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said she will not tolerate racial profiling, but this law actually encourages and requires racial profiling to work.

Finally, the law is unenforceable and will create a host of additional problems for police and the state of Arizona. The federal government should not cooperate with this law. Amid declining law enforcement budgets, are police supposed to spend their time doing identification checks or protecting the public? The law will mean that anyone whose immigration status is in question will not cooperate with police in keeping their communities safe. It will mean that undocumented immigrants will not fill out census forms because they fear being questioned.

This law will also make undocumented immigrants targets for criminals. If you are here illegally and I rob or beat you, you certainly are not going to talk to the police. In addition, let's be real, undocumented immigrants are a major part of this country's economy. I wonder what people are going to do as they flee the state and take their labor and their spending power with them. Everything from hardware stores, landlords and supermarkets will lose the money undocumented immigrants spend.

Rev. Al Sharpton has the right idea. This law is akin to segregation laws in effect before the Civil Rights Movement overturned them. "We will go to Arizona when this bill goes into effect and walk the streets with people who refuse to give identification and force arrest," Sharpton said.

"We're going to overturn this unjust and racist law, and then we're going to overturn the power structure that created this unjust, racist law," U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Democrat, and civil rights activists said at a rally yesterday.

Who is really surprised that Arizona became the first state to pass such a racist law? Folk there fought the Dr. King holiday and only relented when economic pressure was applied. The same tactics need to be applied now. This is also the same state that wants President Obama to prove that he is a citizen when he runs for re-election in 2012.

"It divides our whole community," said Mary Hoffmann, 54, a landscape architect in Phoenix. "If people are divided, they make decisions on fear and anger."

This law is based on fear, anger, ignorance, racism and xenophobia. In other words, all the things that should not go into making laws. Unless this country acts to create and then enforce a smart and fair policy on immigration, we will see more states and municipalities moving to enact laws such as this.