Is the Arizona immigration law racist?
| 10:06 UK time, Tuesday, 27 April 2010
A new law in Arizona which will allow police to stop anyone they think is an illegal immigrant is causing .
The President of Mexico says it is , protesters have smeared on the Arizona state Capitol buildings and many are calling for boycotts of the state, including the county of , rapper , and this who's boycotting the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team.
It's estimated that almost live in Arizona. The new law makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally and immigrants who can't produce documents showing they are allowed to be in the U.S. could be jailed for up to six months and fined $2,500.
says the law is anti-immigrant, borderline racist, wide-open to abuse and unconstitutional. He uses the example of the first person to be arrested after the new law was signed: a truck driver who looks like he could be Mexican but who is actually a US citizen. The man was told he did not have enough paperwork on him when he pulled in to have his truck checked. He provided his commercial driver's license and a social security number but was still handcuffed. Is racial profiling racist?
But the new law has it's . said it's a national security issue and is not intended to violate anyone's civil rights, adding "The people in Southern Arizona have had their rights violated by the unending and constant flow of drug smugglers and human traffickers across their property".
According to drug cartels have taken over the people-smuggling business: "They own the trails into the country and dominate the land, the same way urban gangs control neighbourhoods" and he thinks the majority of Arizona residents support the law.
Is the Arizona immigration law racist?
