Arizona Immigration Law Still Stirs Debate

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 20:27:53 GMT

By Lydia Tahraoui

Associated Press
Arizona's SB 1070 stirs up controversy and protest both in statewide and nationally.

On April 25, 2012, the fate of one of the most controversial laws in the United States was determined. In a few months, the nation will find out the decision made by eight Supreme Court Justices. Arizona’s SB 1070 was signed by Governor Jan Brewer on April 23, 2010, and since then has been hotly debated. It is the strictest law against illegal aliens signed in recent history, and many of its provisions are harsh and unnecessary. One such unnecessary section allows officers to arrest a person suspected of illegally residing the the United States and believed to have committed a crime -- and they don’t need to have an official warrant. Not having a warrant means no planning is required, so these arrests are rash and may be wrong. The suspects may be eventually released, but the damage has been done. An innocent civilian has been arrested for no reason other than a policeman’s distrust. This would have been fine if the arrested person was an actual illegal citizen. Obviously, we cannot simply let non-citizens in; the focus has to be on legal American people. However, officers do not have to verify that the person they are arresting is truly an illegal alien -- they only have to “suspect.” This is a form of racial profiling. There is no place for arresting people in a country founded on the belief that all men are created equally. Police officers should not be allowed to arrest someone they simply suspect; they should have solid evidence supporting that claim. Another problem is that the arresting officers have not been adequately trained in the matters of immigration laws. These matters must be left to those actually trained, not police officers given a vast amount of power by a harsh law. Says Arizona State University law professor Paul Bender, as reported by Yahoo! News, "To have 50 states able to decide on their own who they're going to detain and put in jail without the federal government's permission is an invitation to disaster.” Apparently, a large number of people agree with Bender. Protesters all around the nation have made their opinion heard. The federal government itself has cracked down on the law, saying that by enforcing the SB 1070, the State of Arizona is encroaching on the United States’ government’s power to control foreign affairs. While parts of the SB 1070 are reasonable and should be preserved to address the undeniable issue of illegal immigrants, this and a handful of other sections should be stricken by the Supreme Court. When a law can hurt those who are legally in this country, it must be altered at the very least. It is necessary to stop foreigners from illegally migrating to the United States -- but we cannot hurt our own people by doing so