Defending Arizona!
Arizona Law:
Being the Husband and Father of Mexican Americans I decided to read the law in its entirety.
It states that a law officer must have probable cause to stop someone, (this is the same as the South Dakota Seatbelt law: A law officer must have probable cause to pull someone over, just because they are not wearing a seat belt is not a probable cause if pulled over for speeding, you may also receive a ticket for no seatbelt). In AZ just because you are Hispanic does not mean you will be pulled over, if you have a broken tail light you will be pulled over and asked for your Driver’s License, just like a person of any other nationality.
The law also states that anyone stopped must show proper Identification, a Drivers License, Military ID, MVD identification card, or a Native American Card. Federal law is very clear if you are here on a visa you must have your papers on you at all times. That is the law. If you cannot provide the proper papers you will be detained, and given a chance to provide them. If you do not provide them you will be deported, if you do provide them you may be fined for not having them with you. I know people here from Mexico on Visas, they spend a great deal of time in Border towns in Texas and New Mexico, they would never leave home without their Visas or Green Cards, even though they have U.S. Drivers licenses.
I guess people should educate themselves before they start attacking a State for being reactive to a National problem. This is just a clarification and a crack down on how the Federal Law is enforced. Truth is, it’s no different than someone driving on a suspended license, if you don’t break the traffic laws you will more than likely will not get caught.
The opinions out there are that if you are Hispanic, look Hispanic or speak Spanish you will get pulled over, harassed and detained by the cops. If this is true the cops are acting illegally not you, there are bigots everywhere and I’m sad to say there are many in the police services, however the new Bill does not give the Police that right, it just tells them to do their jobs and make sure that the people pulled over for breaking traffic laws are here legally. It also has nothing to do with being Hispanic; anyone pulled over must provide the proper ID. This law might actually stop the next guy that tries to put a Bomb in Time Square.
Don’t take my word for it, read the law Arizona Law SB 1070 it’s all over the Internet read the actual law not the opinions of a bunch of Liberal bloggers. I agree some of the wording is confusing, but I’m not scared to take my Family to AZ because of it, and neither should anyone else.