“I have never been stopped at a roadblock in Texas.”
I have.
I have.
Of course we stop people from Alabama. We're not fools.
We are continually stopped at roadblocks in AZ dare we leave our house. The entire southern desert area looks and feels like a war zone with quite a few "no man's land" areas. We are locked out of using our public lands --- in some cases literally, in others figuratively.
While I am very much against a police state -- we are already being tracked by Big Brother Napolitano's cameras, DPS cars every ten miles on holiday weekends, and the never-ending roadblocks of Border Patrol, Agriculture, DUI checkpoints, and that's even before you get to the airport.
If this harassment and police state is going to continue toward US citizens, you dam# well better believe it'd better be equally applied. Right now, vehicles with out-of-country plates don't even get tickets for running red lights, just for one example.
This "new" law is based on the federal law of needing to carry documentation that you are in the country legally. Just like most if not all other countries require, even if you are working there with the military (like my brother is right now).
In Maryland the police do not need any reason pull you over and run your tags as they are on cruise duty. They routinely run random vehicle tags to check for violations such as insurance lapse violations. In the process of course, your registration, insurance and drivers license is scrutinized. I can attest to this personally. Should not be a problem for Arizona to do the same. Good ole Peoples Republic of Maryland!