Arizona...

...at the request of my sister, I will give you my summary of what is going on in Arizona. I get the question ALOT at work, since I am the resident expert on all things Arizona.

There is alot out there to read, I would suggest to anybody to go to Bill Bennett's web page and read the various articles he has posted. Among them is a discussion of the violence going on in Mexico for the last few years, including right at the border.

Here is my take... ((I'm sorry I don't have time to edit, and trim it down, but my sister has very little patience. I know I'm the first one to make fun of Internet writers and blogs that are messy, but again, she just keeps pushing me!))

A Police Officer comes into contact with numerous people throughout the day. The Police Officer can stop somebody if the person is observed, or suspected of, violating the law. The Police Officer must have a REASONABLE SUSPICION that the person stopped is the one that violated the law. If the Police Officer can articulate his suspicion, he can "detain" that person, which usually means just talking to the person, while the Police Officer investigates further. After a "reasonable" amount of time, the Police Officer has to either take action, or let the person go.

(There is much more to it, but that should suffice for this.)

During the time the Police Officer is "investigating," the officer will confirm the identity of the person. If the person is driving, they are required to have a Driver License. Other than that, no American citizen is required to carry any identification, or any documents. However, if you are not a citizen, some foreigners are REQUIRED to carry certain documents with them. It was a condition of letting them in the country.

If a Police Officer has contacted a person, who has no identification or documents on them, a simple conversation takes place wherein the person provides information as to their identification, and the Police Officer can verify it. In most states, and specifically in Arizona, name and date of birth MUST be given to the Police Officer if the person is being investigated for a crime. Any crime. The person could also provide, but DOES NOT HAVE TO, social security number, address, phone number, etc.

Many criminals have been through this so many times, they know their way around it. They memorize some other person's information, they only provide name and date of birth, etc. (More on this later).

Several times a day, every day a Police Officer works, he identifies people. Traffic stops, shoplifting calls, fights, domestic violence calls, etc. When a Police Officer contacts somebody, they identify them. It is what they do.

If a person is arrested, they are fingerprinted and identified. If a person gets a ticket, or a summons, the Police Officer has to have positively identified the person before issuing the ticket or summons.

I can tell you, that in 6 years as a Police Officer in the State of Arizona, for the majority of ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, it would take about a minute to determine their status. They admit it. Why? How could they back up their lie? They usually don't understand the limited powers of the police in the United States. They come from a country where the police are not trusted, and have HUGE power. But more importantly, a local (State, county, city) Police Officer is not in charge of immigration, and has no power to arrest a person. Immigration violations are a FEDERAL CRIME. Local (State, county, city) Police Officers CAN arrest somebody for a violation of Federal Law, but they have to turn them over to a Federal Agency - and Federal Agencies DO NOT have the time to arrest every single illegal immigrant, and build a case against them.

In short (I know, too late), Arizona made a law that adopted the Federal Law with regards to Illegal Immigration. States do this all the time. They don't have to re-invent the wheel, they just adopt an existing Federal Law.

Arizona said...If a Police Officer, in the normal course of duty, has contacted a person, and develops REASONABLE SUSPICION that the person is in the country illegal, the Police Officer must attempt to positively identify the person, meaning their immigrant status. And, the Police Officer can charge them with a State Law, arrest them, and turn them over to Federal Custody.

So, the law is not a new law, it just says that Arizona is going to require local Police Officers to enforce the Federal Law. The law goes out of its way to say that the Police Officer has to have already contacted the person - meaning it can't be the primary reason for stopping somebody. Of course, a Police Officer could see a "Mexican looking" person, stop them for some other reason, and then start the "immigration investigation" - but the Police Officer has to have evidence of the reason for the stop, and can be held CRIMINALLY LIABLE if it is determined that the stop was conducted based on race.

All of this has been said, its all over the Internet. But here are some scenarios to help explain:

A Police Officer pulls over a car for a traffic violation. The driver has no driver license, and barely speaks English. The driver doesn't know his exact address, or the address where he works, but can provide a paycheck stub, and the name of the business he works at. That's a clue. It happens hundreds of times a day in any given suburb of Phoenix. A little more questioning, the person does not have a social security number, can't say where they went to school. If the person hasn't admitted anything, and claims to have been born in the United States, the Police Officer could ask for a phone number to contact a relative, or ask for finger prints - any number of reasonable steps to determine the person's status. Now the Police Officer has developed the Reasonable Suspicion into PROBABLE CAUSE - the person is PROBABLY an illegal immigrant. An arreste can be made.

...or...

A Police Officer is called to a house for a family fight, or noise, or whatever reason. A person living at the house is being investigated for a crime. The person has to provide a name and date of birth, that is all. If the Police Officer determines the person does not have a driver license, or a state issued identification card (in the "system") the Police Officer could ask for any form of identification that would help to identify the person. The person is under NO OBLIGATION to provide it. There simply is no law, no requirement that a person have these papers. But, as in the case of the traffic stop, the Police Officer will continue the investigation, gathering as much information as possible. A person CAN NOT be arrested for an immigration violation, unless there is PROBABLE CAUSE that the person committed the violation. A person could say they were born in another state, that they don't drive, etc. And nobody is required to provide their social security number to anybody but the social security administration.

A person will only be arrested, as with ANY OTHER CRIME, only after the Police Officer has PROBABLE CAUSE to believe the person is in the country illegally, and has evidence.

So what is going to happen with the law? People in jail in Arizona, a suspected minimum of 20%, 1 in 5, could be deported upon the completion of their sentence.

Police Departments will develop policies in dealing with illegal immigrants that are on every corner, everyday, looking for day jobs. They can do what the City of Chandler did years ago, and send a van out every morning, questioning the people who are loitering, jaywalking, littering, and round up the ones that are determined to be Illegal Immigrants.

Other things - the President, and appointed officials, as well as left-leaning federal officials, will attempt to nullify the law by refusing to assist Arizona, refusing to deport, etc. Arizona can arrest the people, but Arizona doesn't have a treaty with Mexico, and Mexico doesn't want these people back.

What else is going to happen? Should the law stand - illegal immigrants will evolve. They will learn ways around being questioned. They will learn to memorized dates of birth, social security numbers, addresses. They will drive less. They will not congregate in groups in front of the Circle K's and Home Depots looking for work. They will learn to speak better English. They will get better false identifications - the black market for "papers" will skyrocket.

What about the parents that get arrested. A father is at work, he gets arrested for being an illegal immigrant. He tells the Police Officer he lives in another city, and he has four kids in school. Mom is at work. Police go to the house. Mom is arrested. Multiply this times hundreds. What do you do with all the children? Do you now go to the schools and ask how the kids got admitted? What if the kids are LEGAL since the the Civil Rights Act of 1866 (intended to make former Slaves citizens) guarantees that anybody born in the United States - is a citizen.

There are going to be unintended consequences. But something has to be done.

It bothers me that there are certain areas of cities where English is the second language. But that has little to do with illegal immigration.

It bothers me that people come to this country, only to send their money back to another country. But that has little to do with illegal immigration.

It bothers me that you can't read a pamphlet, or any legal document, without having it in Spanish and English. Or that I have to press a number to hear English. But that has little to do with illegal immigration.

America is the greatest nation on earth, and it should be made available to those from other countries, who want to come here and recognize that. They SHOULD maintain ties to the old country. They SHOULD keep their customs, while adopting ours too. They SHOULD speak their old language, while they learn English. But the SHOULDN'T force us to adopt their language, their culture, etc.

And not just everybody gets in and stays. If you don't come in legally, and you get caught, you get deported. If you have permission to be in the country, and you commit a crime, you get deported.

We live in a day and age where we, like all other countries, have to protect our borders. Since World War II we have known that it is easy for people from other countries, who want to do us harm, to come into our country. German spies were caught in America during World War II. Russian spies have been here just as long.

In 5 seconds on the Google machine, I found this:



I'm not kidding myself, the Arizona law is a response to primarily Mexicans, and other Central and South Americans coming her for work. But it is all related, and something has to be done.

Hopefully the Arizona law gets the nation focused on this. But beware of "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" - its code for "Lets not really solve this, but make it harder for LEGAL IMMIGRATION."