somebody is finally getting serious about immigration

On Friday, an extremely strict bill was signed by Jan Brewer, the governor of Arizona. Highlights of the bill include the ability of the police to detain anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant based on reasonable suspicion, and making it a misdemeanor to not to carry immigration documents. Arizona, being a border state, has serious problems from illegal immigration, but is this the direction we need to be moving in to deal with the problem of illegal immigration?

In my opinion, this is a wrong turn. Yes, this issue needs to be handled, and a drastic change in our immigration policies is needed. But to give the power to the police to legally harass possible U.S. citizens based on their discretion is a very bad idea. The governor urges people to trust law enforcement, but many others, myself included, do not think that we should rely on the discretion of the police. From my own personal experience, and the experiences of close friends, the police already profile and harass people enough without being given more power. I have a lot of respect for police officers that lay their lives on the line everyday to maintain order for us citizens, all while being underpaid. However, that kind of authority position tends to attract people that wear their badges as a crown and basically operate as a legalized gang. No one can deny that there are a few too many police officers who are simply uneducated, uninformed bigots that use their authority to harass minority groups, teenagers, or pretty girls just because they can. This kind of law that just got signed by Arizona will give such police officers even more power to do just that. I agree that there needs to be a change in how we handle illegal immigrants, but not like this. I would not feel comfortable placing my trust in the police force on an issue such as this, especially if I were a legal Latino immigrant.