In the past month South Carolina and Minnesota have introduced copy-cat versions of SB1070, an Arizona state law that authorizes state and local authorities to enforce federal civil immigration laws using racial profiling—now Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Virginia are set to follow suit in the fall.

Arizona State Representative Russell Pearce, a sponsor of SB1070, has even expressed interest in introducing legislation this fall that would deny birth certificates to children born in Arizona to parents who are not legally in the Unites States, thus attempting to deny them the American citizenship accorded to them by the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Policies and guidelines that permit racial, ethnic, and religious profiling and increased searches will result in discrimination against certain ethnic communities. These policies and guidelines also have an effect on the reporting and investigation of crimes, leave minorities more vulnerable to hate crimes, and will not resolve the underlying issue of a broken federal immigration system. Although these laws have been described as a necessary law enforcement tool to target criminal activity, the impact will be much broader and it has the potential to negatively affect all innocent immigrant communities, including our own.

ACTION:
It is critical that your State officials hear from you. Email your Governors, State Senators and Representatives and tell them:

1.You oppose bills that allow for enforcement based on racial profiling, like Arizona’s SB 1070, instead of comprehensive immigration reform

2.You support comprehensive immigration reform on the federal level

If you need help taking action, please call our Government Relations department at (202) 429-9210. Please also contact us and tell us about your successful calls!