Arizona governor signs immigration bill, reopening national debate
Jan Brewer, the governor of Arizona has recently passed the state’s immigration bill into law. According to the Arizona immigration law, immigrants are required to carry their immigration documents with them all the time. The law authorizes police officers to demand suspected people for their alien registration documents, if they have even a slight suspicion about the individual. The Arizona’s law seems to be highly controversial and has raised a national debate among politicians, pundits, and citizens.
President Obama also expressed his disapproval to the Arizona immigration law, stating that this immigration law was “misguided” and could violate citizen’s civil rights. Further, he also said that the developments in the law would be monitored by the Justice Department.
At a naturalization ceremony that was held for 24 foreign-born U.S. military members, that Obama had first raised opposition to the Arizona immigration law. At the naturalization ceremony, President Obama had appealed to the fellow countrymen to opt for a different future and not the one that was envisaged through the Arizona immigration law.
Janet Napolitano, the Homeland Security Secretary was also present at the Rose Garden event along with President Obama. Previously, during her two term tenure as Arizona’s democratic governor she had repetitively refused to permit similar bills. She justified her act, saying that those bills would have refrained law enforcement forces from protecting their nationals from serious threats.
Immigrant advocates and the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona are of the opinion that the Arizona immigration law might cultivate racial profiling, since they believe that most police officers do not have enough training to look beyond race while investigating the suspected person’s immigration status.
The Arizona immigration law has reignited the national immigration reform debate. President Obama has urged the federal government to take steps to reform the national immigration law and prevent irresponsibility by others.