Arizonans react to sweeping immigration bill

By: Michelle Monroe

May 3, 2010

Many Arizonans are up in arms after the governor signed the new immigration bill into law on April 23.

“We are planning on activating our members and encouraging our members to go out and speak against (Senate Bill) 1070,” said Deya Nevarez, vice chair of Las Adelitas Arizona.

Las Adelitas Arizona is an organization whose mission is “to recruit, educate, and mobilize Latinas to participate in the political process and support progressive issues.”

Many of the members believe that laws like SB 1070 are passed because the Hispanic population is not well represented politically.

“We hope to bring about reform and good reform and can only do so with our people more interested in the political process,” Nevarez said. “We do have a plan where we will go door to door to register Latina women and inform them about 1070.”

People around the country are boycotting Arizona companies until the law is repealed.

“Do not book vacations, conventions, or stay at hotels or motels in the state; do not send your children to Arizona state schools for example the University of Arizona or Arizona State University,” wrote Gary Norris Gray, a writer for Gibbs Magazine, wrote in an article on BlackAthlete.net. “A financial and political boycott of Arizona is the only political tool the American public has to repeal this law.”

Opponents of the law believe it will legalize racial profiling.

“I think there were definitely problems in the past with racial profiling, this is going to make it worse and its going to make new problems with having police officers violate people’s civil rights everyday when they don’t want to,” Nevarez said.

Some believe this law is nothing new, but adds to the racism present in Arizona.

“We’re (Mexican-Americans) always having to justify our existence prove our legality and assert our humanity,” said Roberto Rodriguez, a UA assistant professor. “Right before the passage of the bill there was a raid in south Tucson involving 800 federal agents … 800 agents to arrest 48 human smugglers, we’re talking about people that are armed, schools shut down, communities terrified.”

The law requires police officers to enforce federal immigration laws and decreases the need to ask for immigration documentation from “probable cause” to “reasonable suspicion.”

“Probable cause is a higher standard, it is more likely than not we’re going to arrest somebody, and it’s supported by facts and circumstance,” said Sgt. Juan Alvarez, the University of Arizona Police Department public information officer. “Reasonable suspicion is more than a reasonable hunch, we have to have articulable facts that someone is up to a crime.”

The definitions provided by Jason Ogan, public information officer for the Pima County Sheriff’s Office, show the only difference is that the circumstances don’t need to convince a prudent officer for reasonable suspicion only a reasonable officer.

“This lowers the threshold, it makes it arbitrary, ‘Hey he was hanging out with other Mexicans, they were speaking Spanish, I thought they might be here illegally,’” Rodriguez said. “We’ve lived racial profiling all our lives. It’s both expanding and giving legal cover.”