Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Arizona's Senate Bill 1070

The following is a link to Arizona's Senate Bill 1070 (Please make special note of Article 8) SB 1070 will allow law enforcement officials to use personal whim to identify illegal immigrants. As cited from SB 1070 Article 8 Section B law enforcement officials are to rely on "reasonable suspicion" or articulable and particularized suspicion that illegal activity is afoot", as defined by www.fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/m013006.pdf, but who determines what is reasonable? This grey area creates a scenario of justifiable profiling. 


It would seem SB 1070 is in violation of Equal Protection Clause or the Fourteenth Amendment of The Constitution as precedented in the case of Chavez v. Illinois State Police, 251 F.3d 612, 635 (7th Cir. 2001) as cited from The United States Justice Department. The article also cites the case of Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 813 (1996) which states that legal prosecution can not be based on "an unjustifiable standard such as race, religion, or other arbitrary classification." This leads you to wonder exactly what criteria Arizona law enforcement will be using to determine what is indicative of being an illegal immigrant if it is not arbitrary or based on race. 


With the implementation of SB 1070 Arizona will be encouraging profiling. Advocates of SB 1070 claim that the bill will not encourage profiling. But with knowledge of the legal definition of profiling you be the judge. 

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