Welcome to Arizona, Can I See Your Greencard?

[Nick J.]

Anyone have any input on the Immigration Bill signed today in Arizona?

I'm not very political but something tells me I'm okay with it

[Carlton Ellis]

Originally posted by J Scott:

Originally posted by Tim Wieneke:

I just don't see the problem with Arizona deciding this legislation for themselves any more than I have a problem with Illinois being able to put me in prison for what I legally am free to do in Indiana.

I don't carry my birth certificate with me when I travel, and when I travel within the U.S., I don't carry my passport.

If I were to be stopped in AZ, they could throw me in jail because I couldn't produce my birth certificate or passport.

That seems a bit unconstitutional to me...

What is interesting is that people don't see the parallel between the "Show me your papers" pratices by the Nazis and the passbook laws of aparthied South Africa. As Americans do we really want to live society were law enforcement officers have the perogative to stop you and ask you for identification because you "look" like an illegal alien? The law opens the door to discriminatory practices by the police.

Someone tell me what constitutes "looking" like an illegal alien without being discriminatory? I'm all for checking somebody's citizen status if they are attempt to use government funded health, education and social services and apprehended when committing a crime or in the act of illegallly crossing the border. I'm all for criminally prosecuting people who hire illegal aliens. But just stopping people on the street or pulling them over because they "look" like they might illegal is just blatantly wrong.

Again, this law is in response to an inadequate federal response to immigration enforcement. This is a longstanding problem that has to fixed AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL!