Arizona’s New Immigration Bill is Racist

by PURUSHOTTAM SHAH

FROM ISSUE # 173 (May 2010) | IN THIS ISSUE
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Arizona lawmakers approved a sweeping immigration bill this April intended to ramp up law enforcement efforts even as critics complained it could lead to racial profiling and other abuse.

The controversial new immigration laws passed in Arizona give police officers authority to question and detain anyone suspected of residing illegally in the United States. As a fellow immigrant, albeit legal, this is an effort to reach out to Nepali people who constitute a fairly large immigrant population in the US. 

It is understandable that state authorities need to act if federal government fails to take adequate measures to secure its borders. But the pretext on which this bill is based is flawed. Arizona has a large immigrant population but it alone does not account for the introduction of this bill. New York has a much larger immigrant population and probably has more immigration related problems than any other state in the US. Yet, it is Arizona that rises up to say enough is enough. Why? 

The people of Arizona can't deal with immigrants. They argue that the immigrants have been the cause of increased criminal activities yet available statistics hardly support their dubious claim. The controversial bill is a flagrant demonstration of xenophobia and Obama has been quick enough to label it a misguided effort.

The bill runs counter to the basic founding principles of America in terms of equal liberty and civil rights. Supporters of the bill deny that this bill will lead to racial profiling while one of the local residents remarked, "If you are an alien, you will look different and cops will know." Police officers could ask an individual to produce legal documents based on their appearances alone. Imagine going shopping to a grocery store and suddenly being confronted with demands to produce legal documents. Who carries a passport, visa or other documents while going to a grocery store? 

It is one thing to enforce tighter border regulations but completely different to conduct random suspicious checks on individuals already present inside its borders based merely on their looks. I am confident that if I were in Arizona, I would be asked to produce my documents since I look alien. And since I never carry my passport with me, I would be detained before my school authorities intervened on my behalf (hopefully).

This bill, intended to discourage future immigrants from illegally crossing its borders, will potentially affect many legal Americans who do not look American enough (white). It may be acceptable to ask a person about his heritage if he does not look white, despite his impeccable English, but it is absolutely racist to ask for his legal documents. 

America proudly asserts itself as the land of immigrants, and rightly so. Law-makers of Arizona cannot forget that their heritage, too, lies somewhere outside the U.S. They are immigrants too, only a century or two apart. I will not argue about the artificial border control imposed once the state was formed in 1776 but I cannot stand a racist immigration bill in the name of 'immigration reform' either.