It has cost Arizona millions of dollars in legal fees. It touched off protests and resulted in business groups canceling conventions and musical performers refusing to play in that state.
The “show your papers” immigration law gave the state’s public image a black-eye along with the image of a former female governor gleefully signing it into law.
The Las Vegas Journal Review newspaper reported last week that Arizona officials finally decided to scrap most of the law, ending a costly battle between state and civil rights.
Opponents allege that the law, commonly known as SB 1070 and signed by then Gov. Jan Brewer, led to racial profiling and wrongful detention.
Under the new agreement, local authorities have limited power to enforce federal immigration laws. Also it banned immigration-only arrests. Also the settlement says law enforcement officers cannot prolong traffic stops to check the immigration status of drivers and passengers.
The Obama administration challenged the law, saying the federal government had jurisdiction over immigration enforcement. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 partially struck down the law, including a provision requiring immigrants to carry paperwork at all times.
But the high court upheld the law’s most controversial section, which required police officers to check the immigration status of people they stop, even for minor offenses, the so-called ‘show your papers’ provision.
Arizona, which was one of the last two states to reluctantly approve holiday for Martin Luther King Jr., is where I stop long enough to fill up my gas tank to drive to the other side.
A state with a county that keeps re-electing an ignorant bigot, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and a governor who shakes her finger at a U.S. president isn’t worth my time.
Arpaio, however, was finally held in contempt of court by a federal judge in Phoenix who was apparently tired of him thumbing his nose at federal court orders.
To read those details click here: “Joe Arpaio’s Contempt of Court” by the Atlantic.
Here is why Arpaio who endorsed Trump is a despicable human being with a badge: DOJ Uncovers Rampant Lawbreaking By Sheriff Joe Arpaio Despite His Stonewalling
Most in states like Arizona who pass these immigration or Voter ID restrictions aren’t moved by facts.
But here are a rew recent facts about immigration by the Pew Research Center: U.S. immigrant deportations declined in 2014, but remain near record high
The number of Mexican and Canadian people crossing the border is in the millions: “Around 300,000 people cross the northern border with Canada each day, which equates to annual approximates of 39,254,000 crossings by Canadians into the United States (in 2009) and 20,213,500 crossings by Americans into Canada (in 2010),” according to Reference.com.
The southern border with Mexico was crossed by more than 20 million Americans in 2013 and over 14 million Mexican tourists coming the other way, according to Reference.
Having lived on the border for much of my life, most Hispanics understand and there is no doubt that there is need for strong immigration laws and enforcement.
But using the U.S. Constitution as a doormat and mentally and physically brutalizing honest and hardworking people isn’t unacceptable.
The Headlines Read: ISIS Leader Dead, Killed by Drone
The infamous Dr. Wa’il who oversaw ISIS’ production of gruesome propaganda videos was nailed by a drone. Needless to say, he is with his 72 virgins in paradise.
I’d like to think that he was sitting inside a Toyota pickup truck filling out a voter registration application so he’d be able to cast an absentee ballot for the Ayatollah Trump when the drone spoiled his day.
Huffington Post Headlines: National Police Union Endorses Donald Trump
The self-described “law-and-order candidate” gets official backing from law enforcement.
National Police Union is endorsing a bigot.
This is the grand daddy of police unions, which collectively have never criticized one police brutal beating of a suspect or fatal shooting of an unarmed person, even when the unarmed victim was running away or was selling single-cigarettes in front of a store before he was choked to death, according to published reports.
The National Union has 250,000 members.
What solutions has the union offered to lower the number citizen complaints against police by citizens? What solutions have they offered to lower the number of incidents of police brutality or decrease the number of fatal shootings?
This year, so far, 772 people have been fatally shot by police, according to the Guardian newspaper, which keeps a daily track of these incidents.
The Police Union would argue Trump is their guy because he is a “law and order” guy who represents their interests.
They aren’t racists.
They just support a racist’s “law and order” message. One that many see as an election-year, conservative code word for giving cops the green light to brutalize communities; reignite so-called stop-and-frisk policing and fire first and ask questions later etc….
But people shouldn’t raise concerns because cops are sworn to protect and serve.
Yet, I can’t help but wonder whether the police officer who comes to my door after I call 911 will “protect and serve” or believe some aren’t really worthy of the same protection and service under the constitution.
Or, as a juror, wonder whether the cop testifying in court is a bigot or maybe, one of the best police officers on the force.
I wonder whether President Trump will appoint a U.S. Attorney General who will conduct civil rights investigations of fatal shootings of unarmed people by cops?
Will a Trump Department of Justice continue investigating police departments who have histories and patterns of corruption, racism, brutality or are piling up questionable fatal shootings? Cities like Ferguson, Chicago, Cleveland, Baltimore, New York City, Los Angeles, Albuquerque etc…
The latest DOJ report on Baltimore found police routinely violated the constitutional rights of residents by conducting unlawful stops and using excessive force, according to the findings of a long-anticipated Justice Department probe released in August.
The practices overwhelmingly affected the city’s black residents in low-income neighborhoods, according to the 163-page report.
Under a Trump Department of Justice, will cops be emboldened to take the law into their owns hands and act as judges, jurors and executioners?
Will this trigger outrage and demands for justice into the streets after anger and frustration fall on deaf ears? Will street protests turn into riots, burning and looting?
Will it become more dangerous for a cop on the beat?
What does the National Police Union’s endorsement of a bigot mean? It speaks volumes about thousands who are on the streets with guns and badges.
Volumes, especially to millions of people of color.