Arizona's New Immigration Law

Shelbyville Times-Gazette ^ | April 25, 2010 | Thom Williamson

[the808bass]

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After reading it, and doing a modicum of research, I've come to realize that it is more an extension of federal laws that already exist. All of the items in this bill already exist as federal laws. This bill just makes it so that state and local police not only have the authority to enforce them, they have the responsibility to enforce them.

So, how do I feel now about the requirement to carry their alien registration papers? Turns out that 8 USC 1304(e) states that "Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him pursuant to subsection (d) of this section. Any alien who fails to comply with the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall upon conviction for each offense be fined not to exceed $100 or be imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both." So this, too, was already part of the federal law and has been for quite some time.

[wtc911]

I have read the first section that has the aclu up in arms.

It goes beyond what you stated. An officer can only ask for a identification if there is reasonable cause to suspect the person of being illegal.

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I posted the entirety on a couple of threads. The opposition is going to have a field day because there is no definition of "legal contact" and there is no guideline for "reasonable suspicion".

Posting snippets of other laws matters not unless this law clearly cites those other laws chapter and verse in defining itself. This is not the case.

As I wrote they got it 99.5% right but that .5% is a deal killer.

[rbmillerjr]

Reasonable cause or reasonable suspicion is an established legal phrase which has been confirmed in our legal system.

There are several SC cases that give the guidelines for this to be proper and improper.

In fact, it is used now for a number of different reasons and is established precedent.

[wtc911]

Fine...now define “legal contact”.

[rbmillerjr]

lawful contact is legal interaction between a law enforcement officer and another....warrant, reasonable suspicion etc.

It’s what it has always been.

[Tailgunner Joe]

American citizens losing their freedom are the consequences of allowing the country to be invaded by millions of foreign criminals. It’s not like they can say nobody warned them this would happen.

[Tailgunner Joe]

The sad fact is that if a person is hispanic, it is now reasonable to suspect that they may be a criminal alien.

[beachn4fun]

My husband believes that all legal citizens should be issued a national ID. That would be all the identification one would need no matter who asked or where you went.

I’m uncertain about this cause it smacks of Germany during the war. But, I can see how this would solve most of our “identifying” illegals.

I think the government needs to put pressure on business owners who hire illegals. Also, home owners who rent apartments or homes to illegals. Make them all pay hefty fines if they’re caught.

I believe that when the Fed Govt starts doing their job in protecting the American citizen and securing our borders much of the above won’t be necessary.

[Caipirabob]

I am asking about the - not to sound racist, but - Hispanic-looking U.S. Citizens who, who were born and raised in the U.S. but will no doubt be pulled over due to the new law. They would not have “papers” or “green cards”. What do they need to carry or show to prove they are not illegal?

As I understand the law, the triggers for probable cause to pursue immigration status is 1) Invalid DL 2) Invalid Insurance 3) Invalid Registration. If you cannot produce adequate basic paperwork on being pulled over for any reason, same as the day before the law was passed, this would trigger the immigration questioning.

At that point one is already in trouble. Now instead of a ticket or a warning, one may be potentially arrested and detained until their status here is confirmed.

Certainly inconvenient, but not a violation of civil rights. We are a step short of martial law here, with nearly half a million invaders on our soil. Certainly not all of them bear us ill, but if it's mearly 10% we're talking about a major threat to the citizens of Arizona. We need to stop this, now.

Look, my wife is morena as are my kids. We all agree, this is the right thing to do right now. We're in trouble down here and no one is helping us.