Arizona is a beautiful state. Arizona is one of my favorite places to spend a week in the sun and mountains. After spending a week in Sedona many years ago, I felt that this is one place that should be on everyone's "bucket list". Yet the state has an unsavory racial history. The state was the last state to recognize Martin Luther King's birthday. And now the state has passed one of the most oppressive laws since the days of Jim Crow.
According to an article in the Arizona Daily Star here is a summary of the key provisions of the law:
1. It requires police officers to determine the immigration status of everybody they arrest before that person is released.
2. During any stop, detention or arrest, a police officer must try to determine a person's immigration status if the officer has reason to suspect the person is here illegally. An exception exists if making that determination might obstruct an investigation.
3. People who officers suspect are here illegally must show one of four approved identification cards to prove they are in the county legally.
4. In a change made Thursday night by the bill's sponsors, the law prohibits police from using race to establish reasonable suspicion that someone is here illegally. The original bill prohibited using "solely" race.
5. The law makes it a state crime to transport, conceal, harbor or shield illegal immigrants. There is an exception for child-protective-services workers, first responders, ambulance attendants and emergency medical technicians.
6. The law makes it a state crime for illegal immigrants to work in Arizona.
7. The law also makes it a state crime for somebody to stop on the street and pick up somebody for work, although it may be hard to prove - and because of the way the law is written this may still be OK as long as the driver pulls off the road first.
The law is clearly a reaction to very real problem facing the citizens of Arizona who see close to 400,000 immigrants cross the border from Mexico into the state each year. Often these immigrants are only temporarily in Arizona on their way to some other state in search of work. Immigration policy has traditionally been the purview and responsibility of the federal government not state governments. It is on this basis and the racial profiling that is certain to result from the administration of the law, despite the amendment made last Thursday night, that will likely strike down the law as unconstitutional. The political optics of the law are even far worse than the flawed legal basis of the law and as a result thousands of people took to the streets this weekend in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, DC, San Francisco and elsewhere to protest the law. Boycotts of events and activities planned in Arizona are also picking up steam. The Obama administration has also announced an expedited review of the constitutionality of the law. Congressman Luis Gutierrez of Illinois was arrested this weekend in front of the White House protesting the law. Major League Baseball is seriously considering moving the 2011 All-Star Game out of Phoenix. This law has forced America to deal with perhaps the biggest domestic policy issue that we face over the next ten years: How do we - how should we, address the issue of millions of people who want to come into the United States in search of a better life?
Arizona's attempt to answer these questions has touched a raw nerve in some political camps and does not appear to be one that comes close to a consensus position. And make no mistake, this is also an issue that will impact just about every business. There are workforce implications. How we resolve this issue will impact consumer markets, housing markets, tax policy, health care policy and the costs associated with all of these.
I suspect that because of the public backlash, the current Arizona law will be either repealed, ruled unconstitutional, or so significantly changed that this current state of affairs is temporary. There are many decisions over the coming weeks that organizations, including corporate members of the NMSDC and MBEs will have to make regarding their "Arizona policy". In many ways it is unfortunate that the citizens and businesses in Arizona have to suffer for the actions of their legislators. I am reminded of what is known as Hanlon's Razor, "Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity". It is unfortunate that stupidity has triumphed in Arizona for the moment.
