Arizona's SB 1070, being pushed by the state's Republican governor Jan Brewer, has been challenged by the Federal government, and is now being debated in the United States Supreme Court. The anti-immigration bill essentially allows state law enforcement to assume the role of federal immigration officials, and detain people whom they merely suspect of being present in the country illegally. Racial profiling of population based on the color of their skin is yet another power granted to the state's police, all in order to make life in Arizona unbearable for people of various ethnic groups as a way to deter illegal immigration. Even before one raises the argument of unconstitutional powers assumed by the state by taking on a role reserved to federal officials, one must consider the vile nature of the bill and the vicious hatred it spews against immigrants. Passage of this bill is bound to usher in an Orwellian atmosphere in Arizona for immigrants and their descendents who were born of a different skin color. Every aspect of their public life will be subject to constant harassment by the state law enforcement, essentially robbing them of a sense of security and of belonging.
The Statue of Liberty famously declares: 'Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,...', inviting people from all over the world who wanted to escape persecution and hardships in their homeland, to carve out a new life in America. The glorious ideals of what the statue, and the United States, have come to represent have been tarnished by the anti-immigration legislation adopted by the state of Arizona. Immigration policies definitely need reform, but it will not be achieved by installing a police state where a large fraction of the population has to live in constant fear and a feeling of being repressed just because they were not born of the right color.
