My husband and I were walking on a rainy, chilly Friday night from our car to one of the many Italian restaurants on Chicago's Taylor Street. It was after 10 and we got in under the wire as the kitchen was closing. A man in his early 20s who I guessed to be Hispanic rode by on a creaky bicycle wearing shorts and a t-shirt and carrying under his arm what looked like a kitchen uniform. I wondered if this were Phoenix rather than Chicago if police, under the immigration law passed that day, could stop him and ask him for identification.
I was listening to NPR's "Weekend Edition Sunday" as guest host Jacki Lyden interviewed departing Baghdad bureau chief Quil Lawrence. They discussed the changes in Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, and Lawrence made the point that Saddam's web of secret police and prisons was so omnipresent, so oppressive that whenever five people got together, it was a safe bet one of them was a snitch for the state.
And so I thought again about Arizona and its new law that allows the police to stop a person if the officer has a "reasonable suspicion" that he or she is not in the country legally. The AP quoted Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the Arizonan who has become famous for his advocacy of the harshest crackdown on illegal immigrants. The new law, the AP reported, "gives him new authority to detain undocumented migrants who aren't accused of committing any other crimes. 'Now if we can show they're illegal, we can actually arrest them and put them in our jails.'"
Iraq was lousy with snitches. Arizona could follow suit; its citizens ratting out others for a myriad of reasons--personal, political, a grudge, a nature simply racist or mean or angry.
Unless the law is stopped before it can take effect--in late July or early August--it could turn out to have an impact that not even George Orwell could have imagined. It could create a system of informers that would make Saddam Hussein sit up in his grave and salute.
not consider leaving UR ID at home unless U did not want people to know who U R. I am really surprised that U would support Lawbreakers and not the citizens of Arizona......
What happens when the majority becomes the minority and all the laws of residency shift away from them forcing them to return to Asia and Europe? African Americans were brought her illegally so they have no worries. California will no doubt become our Capitol. Border states will be like duchys. It will be hard for "Americans" to sneak back in, with Latino officials allowed to arrest those who try.
Vincent Kamin
If the Feds won't do it then the states affected should.
Legal immigrants should welcome the crack down. They are the ones most affected by the crime and violence and loss of jobs.
She was outed on the orders of Cheney. Libby was convicted of four of five counts in the cover up. So you lie when you say no legal action was taken.
The 9 11 commission did not rule Wilson unreliable. That was a minority opinion voiced by three hyper partisan Rethugs.
Bush deceived America regarding the threat posed by Saddam. Where is the yellow cake? Where are the WMDs?
You lie like a rug.
I believe you are mistaken. Yesterday, two IL state representatives suggested calling up the National Guard as a way to supplement the police department's efforts in Chicago. So far as I know, no one has acted on their suggestion at this time. My understanding is if the governor takes up their suggestion, the state would be responsible for paying the salaries of the men and women called up. Is this what you are referring to?