Alex Beroza
Posting #4
Sheriff to Face Civil Rights Suit Over Claims That Include Profiling
NY Times Associated Press
5/9/12
1 Page
In Maricopa County in Arizona, a familiar problem has come up once again: profiling of Latino Americans. There has been a huge influx of illegal immigrants coming to America to seek better living opportunities. unfortunately this has led to many illegal immigrants that could be let it legally if more visas were to be issued by our government. Because all of this, many states touching the boarder of Mexico now have large amounts of residents feeling ill will towards the Latino Community as a whole. This has lead to cases like that here in Maricopa County. Sheriff Joe Ariapo has been charged with several accounts of civil rights violations. Although it is not clear that he himself has been pulling over too many Latino citizens, as Sheriff he is responsible. It appears that his police force has been using random traffic spots to pull over Latinos. Although this is technically legal, the data that has come out easily points to blatant racism in these traffic stops. The plan was to add a court monitor to make sure that Latinos weren't getting pulled over too much, but Sheriff Ariapo has stated that this would take away all of his power as Sheriff. This is the stage that the trail is currently at.
It seems obvious that such happenings need to be more closely monitored by higher forms of government. There needs to be more federal regulation of this blatant use of power by local police departments. This racism can't be tolerated, especially by the very people who are supposed to be protecting us. The real solution to all of this however, is to fix how immigrants get here in the first place. The US needs policies that ease border tension on our southern states. With this, documented workers can help boost the economy, and have millions if not billions of dollars spent on finding them and deporting them.
I agree that this is a major problem in the U.S today; innocent people are being judged because of their race or place of origin. It is possible that Sheriff Joe Ariapo is being biased when he pulls people over, but I do not believe that there is sufficient evidence to convict the sheriff. Instead, I agree with you that the U.S government should spend more effort on trying to increase the efficiency of border security. By doing this, the government can stop the problem from the root of the source, and hopefully decrease the amount of illegal immigrants as well as tensions between races along the border.
ReplyDeleteWhen Arizona SB1070 became law, Latinos feared that it would encourage excessive racial profiling. This seems like a good overall summary of the facts about the situation. It appears the Latinos' fears came into being. What has become legal in Arizona is Illegal under federal law to my understanding. I agree the Arizona law should be tested in a federal court. The blogger makes good points about the unacceptable racial profiling going on in Arizona.
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