The Arizona state legislature is advancing a bill — named “The Arizona Invasion Act” — that would make illegal immigration a state crime. This would bypass federal judicial processes, authorize local and state police to enforce federal immigration law, and give civil immunity to said local agents for damages that result from actions taken during enforcement of this law.
Sounds familiar, huh?
If you thought about Texas in this new Arizona bill, you’re not wrong ! But it’s also almost identical to a law from their own state’s past — SB 1070. Passed in 2010, and dubbed “Show Me Your Papers,” SB 1070 in Arizona was the most anti-immigrant law in the U.S. at the time. It required immigrants to carry their immigration status documents with them at all times and allowed local officers to arrest people if they suspected them to be undocumented. This led to widespread racial profiling and family separation, and if this new bill passes, we can expect to see the same kind of irreparable damage to immigrant communities in Arizona again.
(Taken from an email sent to me by Never Again Action.)
Balkanization proceeding faster than expected.