What is the Arizona immigration law?

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With all the controversy, news coverage, et al, I wanted to know exactly what the immigration law said (not what people thought about it). Here is what I found.

The text of the law is as follows:

For any lawful contact made by a law enforcement official or a law enforcement agency... where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States, a reasonable attempt shall be made, when practicable, to determine the immigration status of the person...

"Lawful contact" means "the officer is already engaged in some detention of an individual because he's violated some other law. ... The most likely context where this law would come into play is a traffic stop." -Kris Kobach, a University of Missouri Kansas City Law School professor

"Reasonable suspicion" means "a combination of circumstances that, taken together, cause the officer to suspect lawbreaking. It's not race -- Arizona's new law specifically says race and ethnicity cannot be the sole factors in determining a reasonable suspicion." -Byron York, Chief Political Correspondent at the Washington Examiner

If you want to read the 16 page bill itself: azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf

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Posted 1 year ago by Dolph (120)
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