On April 23, 2010, the Governor of Arizona passed the highly controversial bill known as the Senate Bill 1070, while also being described as the “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act”. While most Arizonians support the law, the entire nation is up in protest citing this law to be unconstitutional, and one that can result in racial profiling, and in this case targeting Hispanics.
What has made this law so controversial is that in its efforts to keep out illegal immigrants as well as find illegal immigrants in the state, the law gives law enforcement officials the authority to question anyone on the basis of suspicion, and if found without appropriate documentation such as the right visa required to visit or live in the state of Arizona will be detained as the Bill considers it to be a crime.
It is the suspicion that is used to nab offenders that is causing Democrats and Hispanics to stage protests all over the country, where the popular refrain seems to be that this will begin an era in the United States where ‘civil rights violations’ are possible.
Even though the federal government is yet to respond to the controversial Bill, political analysts say that it is due to inaction on the part of the federal government that the states are taking stringent steps to curb the influx of immigrants into the United States.
Will the ramifications of this law turn out to be just as the Democrats and Hispanics fear? Or will it curtail the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States?
Your guess is as good as mine.
