By ABIGAIL CRANE
On April 21, Abdon, a Hispanic truck driver in Phoenix, Arizona, was stopped and questioned about his commercial vehicle. He was then taken to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office because he failed to produce sufficient papers. His wife, Jackie, had to leave work in order to pick up the adequate documents.
Editor's note: This editorial marks the third (and last) in a series entitled "Breaking the Bubble" - the series aims to promote awareness of current events within the "bubble" of the Advanced Studies Program community. You can access the podcast connected to this topic by clicking on the heading and we will hope that you will join us for a lunch discussion on the spill this Friday (July 30th) in the Lowest dining hall.
On April 21, Abdon, a Hispanic truck driver in Phoenix, Arizona, was stopped and questioned about his commercial vehicle. He was then taken to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office because he failed to produce sufficient papers. His wife, Jackie, had to leave work in order to pick up the adequate documents.
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| Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signs SB 1070 into law. Courtesy: The Arizona Republic |
“It's still something awful to be targeted. I can't even imagine what he felt, people watching like he was some type of criminal,” said Jackie.
Having both been born as US citizens, Abdon and his wife were very unhappy with the situation, as stated by AZfamily.com.
“It doesn't feel like it's a good way of life, to live with fear, even though we are okay, we are legal…[but] still have to carry documents around,” said his wife.
The SB 1070 law, signed in on April 23, 2010, is targeting Hispanics, much like Abdon. It planned to go into effect on July 29. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed this law designed to arraign and deport illegal immigrants. The Arizona law declared that it is a crime to reside in Arizona as an illegal immigrant, and that law enforcement has the duty to demand proof of legal residence of those suspected of having illegal immigrant status. This is a clear infringement on civil rights, and would, in turn, cause racial profiling because it is targeting a minority.
On April 23, CNN.com stated that the number of state laws, regarding immigration, has increased in the recent years. In addition, Michael Hethmon, the general counselor who helped draft the bill, said that four other states are planning on taking the same action as Arizona, which would lead to further civil rights injustices across the country.
It comes as no surprise that the bill has come up against a strong force of controversy. The root reason for this is that people of Hispanic heritage have a part in the communities in the U.S. and especially in Arizona. Opponents to the bill say that the law will provoke racial profiling. Many, are outraged.
“It basically puts racial profiling into law,” said a spokeswoman for the Senate Democrats in the Arizona state assembly.
Senator of Arizona, John McCain, “[defended] his state’s newly passed law requiring local officers to investigate individuals’ immigration status,” as stated in The New Yorker. However, President Obama expressed major concern about the bill moments before it was passed because of its social justice implications.
“The recent efforts in Arizona…threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans,” said President Obama.
In response to the unconstitutional actions of present governor, Jan Brewer, a former Arizona state senator, Alfredo Gutierrez, said that, "this is the first step toward apartheid."
On July 6, the United States Justice Department took action. “The Obama administration filed a lawsuit to strike down a new Arizona law aimed at deporting illegal immigrants,” said the New York Times.
Heat over the lawsuit was immediately caused due to the lack of communication between Governor Jan Brewer and the Justice Department. According to the New York Times, the Governor said, “this is no way to treat the people of Arizona. To learn of this lawsuit through an Ecuadorean interview with the Secretary of State is outrageous. If our own government intends to sue our state to prevent illegal immigration enforcement, the least it can do is inform us before it informs the citizens of another nation.”
Despite Governor Brewer’s mild criticisms, an excerpt from the lawsuit clearly depicts the areas in which the Arizona law was at fault.
“Although states may exercise their police power in a manner that has an incidental or indirect effect on aliens, a state may not establish its own immigration policy or enforce state laws in a manner that interferes with the federal immigration laws. The Constitution and the federal immigration laws do not permit the development of a patchwork of state and local immigration policies throughout the country.”
The US Justice Department was clearly justified in its lawsuit due to the civil rights violations, as well as possibilities of racial profiling in the state of Arizona. The future of immigrants in the United States is still unclear; however, Arizona will not be able to exercise any unconstitutional principles any further.
Cannot wait for the Discussion table!
ReplyDeletesolid points. a future career for this author is surely looking promising.
ReplyDeleteHispanics should be concerned that the Arizona law ends up targeting legal residents of Arizona just because of their skin color
ReplyDeleteTake Obama, for instance. Out of the 46 presidents we’ve had since the founding of our country none of them were questioned as to their legitimacy and asked to provide documentation proving they are American born. And All of them just happened to be white.
Then the first time we get a dark skinned president a large segment of the public is angrily demanding he show documentation proving he’s a US citizen.
Of course they don’t see it as racial profiling.
But the fact is, they never questioned any of the white presidents about their birth or asked them to provide documentation of citizenship
Only the dark skinned one