According to a report on foxnews.com, December 23, 2007, Arizona police are routinely asking for proof of citizenship from every suspect they arrest. This procedure was set up in response to the killing of a police officer, Nick Erfle, in Phoenix last year. Erik Jovani Martinez, a twice deported illegal immigrant, was arrested and released. After being released he killed Nick Erfle.
First of all, how do they refrain from racial profiling? They say that they ask for proof of citizenship from every suspect, but do they really mean just those who look as though they could be from Latino decent? The mayor of Scottsdale, Mary Manross says that the police are definitely not engaging in racial profiling, but who is there to regulate that. There is racial profiling everywhere in the U.S. and not just against Latinos. You hear about it all the time. Unfortunately, there are still some racist people in the world that do decide that other races are criminals and need to be punished.
Secondly, what if a person doesn't have proof of citizenship? Obviously most people who are driving are going to have their driver’s licenses, but is that enough to prove they are a citizen of the United States? You hear about people having fake ID's and identity theft all the time so obviously it is somewhat easy to get a fake drivers license. Also, most people don't carry their birth certificates, social security cards, or passports around with them. Those are things that we are told to keep at home or in a safe deposit box, somewhere it won't be stolen. So are they just asking for proof of citizenship from people who look like they could be immigrants?
Overall, I feel as though this new procedure is a bad idea. It just leads to more corruption with law enforcement. Many people who shoot police officers are citizens of the U.S. so what makes it okay for the police to single out possibly illegal immigrants? A criminal is a criminal in my eyes, whether they are illegal immigrants or U.S. citizens. Are they going to start asking everyone what gang they are affiliated with next? This is a ridiculous procedure and it needs to be stopped soon.
If you'd like to read the article, the link is:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,318126,00.html?sPage=fnc/specialsections/immigration
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It sucks that the racial profiling still exists but there really is no way to stop it. The only remedy will be time. Like it said in Walls and Mirrors, the reasons why some Mexican Americans don't like Mexican aliens is because of the continued racial stereotyping. But don't you think that this kind of stuff goes on everywhere in the world. Stereotypes don't just dissapear and they apply to everyone. Even though being a white male in the U.S. comes with certain connotations if I were to leave the country it would all be changed. This is not to say that I like how the cops are treating immigrants I think they could use some adjustments aswell.
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