>>Not a good test. There are many American Indians who
live in and were born in Arizona who don’t speak English
at all.<<
I agree. I don’t consider it a test, but just a strong clue. Fred Reed, when riding with cops in the Chicago Ghetto mentioned that when you saw white boys in a car it usually meant they were there to buy drugs. It was not a test, but it was a strong clue. In that case, it was a VERY strong clue.
In this case, if someone is Hispanic (and most illegal Mexicans are just “southern” American Indians) and can’t speak English during a routine traffic stop, it would simply be more prudent for a reasonable police officer to use that as one of the clues to determine if examining the license as a forgery, etc. May be in order.
If someone is black or white or Asian it would probably be less of an issue. Racial and sexual profiling is arguably THE most useful weapon at the disposal of our police for effectively doing their job. I’d like to see the TSA embrace it.
I sincerely doubt that is true. I grew up in Arizona near the Navajo and Hopi Reservations and even in the 1950s and 1960s it was rare to find one that couldn't speak English. I also lived in Casa Grande and knew many of the Indians in that area. Many chose not to speak English because they had chosen to follow their native ways- but they indeed learned English and could speak it when needed. Also it would be a pretty dumb LEO that couldn't tell the differences in the language and dialect, even without being fluent in other languages. Indians also have all the normal forms of ID, plus usually a tribal census card.
In my opinion LEO will be able to enforce this law without profiling or dragging minority citizens to the hoosegow. LEO use many clues to determine if someone is a "person of interest" and needs more investigation. They are good at what they do. The media will say it is about the clothes- or the language but it won't be that simple- it will be a series of things that might lead LEO to take a second look at someone.
Where I live we deal with the Border Patrol regularly in traffic stops; they are also good at what they do and I don't believe what they do is racial profiling since I am a pale skinned blond and have been stopped many times. One of my daughters dated an Australian that was here on a student VISA and the BP checked him out thoroughly on more than one occasion and once he was in trouble because he didn't have the documents with him he was supposed to carry. Doesn't sound like they rely on racial profiling or should since there are illegals here from nearly every other country on the planet.
Not speaking English indeed may be a clue- but only one clue to be used along with other clues. I would think for someone to get their attention it would likely be a traffic stop and the first issues will be if the person has all the usual paperwork in order- same if one is involved in some other sort of activity that comes to the attention of LEO- do they have ID? What kind, legitimate or otherwise- then they will move on from there.
I just don't see all this as a problem- will some LEO take advantage to harass someone? Maybe but there are bad LEO out there now that harass people so I don't see this creating a new issue.
Really? Where are your statistics?
Perhaps the very elderly but the young ones all know how to speak English.
And none of them speak Spanish. Navajo and other Native languages sound very different, as I’m sure you are aware.