April 23, 2010

Earlier this week Arizona passed a draconian bill that requires immigrants to carry their documentation at all times and requires police officers to determine the immigration status of people if they suspect they are in the United States illegally. The bill has yet to be signed or vetoed by Gov. Jan Brewer.

Currently most immigration law is handled by the Federal government and is an administrative issue, rather than a criminal one. However this bill changes that by diverting more law enforcement resources to mostly non-criminal activity meant to be handled by the Federal government.

Like other organizations, such as the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, the South Asian Network, and the American Civil Liberties Union, MPAC is extremely concerned over the new bill. They claim that it is tantamount to legalized racial profiling. As a result, Latino members of Congress like Luis Guiterrez have harshly criticized the bill as "lunacy." Even President Obama himself declared the bill as "misguided." Such biased law enforcement is as ineffective as it is immoral.

Muslim Americans can empathize. Under the pretext of national security and immigration, Muslim Americans have already been subject to widespread ethnic and religious profiling. During the 2004 Presidential electoral race, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation initiated "Operation Front Line" where over 2,000 people from Muslim-majority countries were arrested. No one was ever convicted on national security violations or terrorism charges. Instead the majority of those that ended up being deported were due to minor immigration charges.

Such enforcement was not only a waste of national security resources, but a blatantly discriminatory action against a particular community of faith.

Though the Arizona bill, if signed into law by Gov. Brewer, is likely to mostly impact Latinos “whether documented or not“ such an initiative is of great concern to Muslim Americans. Currently, four other states are considering passing laws similar to Arizona's bill. This not only has the potential to greatly impact the national debate on immigration reform, but also impact other minority communities whose immigration statuses may be suspect, including Muslim Americans.

Illegal immigration is an issue of concern to all Americans, and has important implications for our national security and sovereignty. However enlisting state and local cops to enforce administrative law in a blatantly discriminatory way is not the best way forward. Instead a more just and comprehensive solution, such as those currently being debated in Congress, are the better way to go.