Montage editor argues that what Arizona is asking of their immigrants is a lot like what the Nazis did with the Jews during World War II.
By: Joe Ray
– Asst. Online Editor –
“Show me your papers.”
Doesn’t this sound like what the Nazi’s did during the Holocaust?
Well in Arizona, the new immigration law seems about the same. What Arizona is asking of their immigrants is a lot like what the Nazis did with the Jews during World War II.
The bill, which was signed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer on April 23, 2010, states that any police officer can ask for someone’s documents if he or she has reasonable suspicion that person is in the United States illegally.
The documents required, according to Title II of the Immigration and Nationality Act, are certificate of alien registration and an alien social security card.
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles claimed that the officers asking a person for documents was like “Nazism.”
The theory behind reasonable suspicion requires the officers use racial profiling to really suspect someone of being in the country illegally.
Reasonable suspicion, by law, is the stopping of an individual based on facts given to the police officer but doesn’t always mean hard evidence. Police officers need more than a hunch but still can have that suspicion of wrongdoing.
The person can also be taken immediately into United States custody until they have found evidence that this person is here legally.
Our country is in a state of fear ever since the attacks in 2001. We live in fear wherever we go, and now, we are taking away the one thing we have strived for since we built this country: immigration.
Immigration is what built this country up, and that is who we are as a nation, immigrants. Immigrants have helped build jobs and helped our economy grow.
Making it a law based on reasonable suspicion is not enough evidence for this law to be passed.
Immigrants coming into the country illegally are a big problem, but we cannot resort to this sort of racial profiling.
There are a lot of people concerned about illegal immigrants coming into their state or country and taking their jobs.
On March 27, Arizona rancher Robert Krentz was brutally murdered by an illegal immigrant, who then fled back to Mexico.
Krentz was often known for being a good Samaritan who often helped illegal immigrants cross the border, and it finally back-fired on him. This is an example of why many people felt the immigrant law needed to be passed. To them, this strict law needs to be in enforced on people coming into the United States illegally.
We do have a problem with immigrants coming into this country illegally and that something has to be done to stop these crimes.
Senate republicans in the state of Arizona, who helped pass this bill, believed it would help enforce laws that are already in place so that there would be less crime, lower taxes and safer neighborhoods.
Weren’t we trying to stay away from this type of behavior?
Equality is what we built this country on and it looks like we are breaking that promise on making sure one is treated equally, not just for gender but for race too.
