Yesterday, Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona signed draconian immigration legislation that effectively legalizes racial profiling within “The Grand Canyon State.”  The law requires law enforcement authorities to demand proof of citizenship from anyone whom they have “reasonable suspicion” of being a non-documented immigrant.  What is the criteria for “reasonable suspicion?”  Who is this law targeting?  Upon visual inspection, how does one tell that a person is not a citizen of the United States?  Governor Brewer encourages us to trust law enforcement, so I’m certain that their dragnets will sweep up any number of  people that look just like this:

Governor Brewer herself said, “We must enforce the law evenly and without regard to skin color, accent or social status, “so how would I know the person pictured above isn’t an illegal immigrant?**  Let’s stop pretending.  We know who this legislation is designed to target.

I know there are those individuals who consider themselves “strict constitutionalists,” but it seems like their version of the U.S. Constitution only includes the Second Amendment and occasionally the First Amendment when they are the ones protesting.  However, the Arizona legislation is a blatant violation of the Fourth Amendment, which reads:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Being brown-skinned or speaking Spanish does not constitute “probable cause,” especially in a state like Arizona which has a Hispanic or Latino population of 30.1% according to the U.S. Census Bureau.  As I see it, the only way to constitutionally apply this law would be for the police to to stop every citizen to demand proof of legal residency.

I’m sure Governor Brewer’s next act will be to issue an edict changing the highway signs to read “Welcome To Arizona.  You Just Left The 21st Century.”

- JEP

**This was not an entirely fair question, because the above is a photo of  Governor Brewer herself.