by Rosalba Ruíz
Police officials from four states said that Arizona’s new immigration law, which empowers police to question the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being “unlawfully present” in the country, is a bad idea.
Members of the Law Enforcement Engagement Initiative (LEEI), an organization of police leaders advocating for immigration reform, said they would oppose similar legislation if it were proposed in their own states.
“I think this bill will have catastrophic impact on policing,” said George Gascon, San Francisco’s top cop, during a LEEI teleconference involving Hispanic Link News Service just hours before Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed the state legislation.
Law enforcement officials listed the high risk for racial profiling, a negative impact on community trust toward police and additional pressure on local police who already have limited resources as primary among reasons they oppose the law.
“(The law) does have some national ramifications,” said Richard Myers, Chief of Police in Colorado Springs, Colo., and member of LEEI. “The legislation poses yet another unfunded mission to the police that we just cannot sustain …It expects local police to engage in what is the primary mission of federal authorities.”
Myers said that one of his concerns is that other states would follow the lead.
Civil rights advocates have decried the law, citing the potential for racial profiling.
Before passage of the law, the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police voiced its position against the bill, but the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, a police officers union, asked for the governor’s support of the bill, saying the legislation would be another tool that would assist officers “in keeping our neighborhoods safe.”
Raleigh, N. C. chief Harry Dolan, a member of LEEI, stated that while preventing crime is the role of police, solving the immigration issue is the federal government’s responsibility: “I don’t want to give a position on it. I just want to say, federal government, please step up.” Hispanic Link.
IN OTHER IMMIGRATION NEWS:
Conservative Latinos now say they support immigration legislation
by Luis Carlos López
PHOENIX, Ariz. — Just as President Obama was about to reveal his intention to scuttle pursuing immigration reform this year, several conservative Latino political activists and faith-based leaders used an April 29 telephonic news conference coordinated by author/activist Juan Hernández to spread the word that there’s plenty of support among Hispanic Republicans for a comprehensive bill to be floated in Congress this session.
While former President George W. Bush’s Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutiérrez participated as he was waiting at an airport, ex-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was a last-minute no-show. Hernández vaguely blamed his absence on a late “schedule change.”
Hernández read a statement by the former governor given to POLITICO the day before in which he stated that Arizona’s SB1070, signed by Gov. Jan Brewer April 23, “creates unintended consequences.” He added, “I don’t think this is a proper approach.”
Ironically, participants in the news teleconference stressed that for a reform bill to have any chance for success, President Obama must assume a much more forceful leadership role.
Stating that together they represent several hundred congregations, the half-dozen evangelical leaders were unanimous in denouncing the Arizona legislation.
Meanwhile, with the 90-day countdown beginning for Arizona’s SB1070 law to take effect, Latinos aligned with both political parties continue to call for rallies, marches, boycotts and non-violent protests nationwide on May 1 and beyond.
The law signed by Governor Brewer has already prompted two lawsuits, one coming from the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, which filed a complaint April 29 citing that the legislation was illegal because it undermined federal authority. Hispanic Link.
