Show me your papers

The courts have finally blessed that immigration law in Arizona which says police officers who detain you on another matter must also make a reasonable attempt to determine whether you’re here legally, if they suspect that you’re not.

Now if they find 20 sweaty people hiding in the trunk — obvious. But suppose the situation is less obvious.

Do police just question people who look or sound Hispanic? Absolutely not. In fact, the official training video spells out the punishment for cops who just go around profiling people.

“Racial profiling is police misconduct, lost job, lost career, lost retirement, over what? Catching a person who didn’t obey the law to get into this country,” says the video.

Plus, as Victoria Lopez of the Arizona ACLU pointed out, profiling for illegals in Arizona by appearance or accent could get a little awkward.

“There are in fact many people in the state of Arizona who are of Latino descent who are U.S. citizens or have legal status, maybe green card holders, or maybe visa holders.”

So the cops ask, ‘May I see your license? Is this you? Is this your address?’ And you verify all that, and then they ask, ‘Are you here legally?’ And you say, ‘I believe I am.’ And if they ask where are your papers, and you say, ‘The Supreme Court doesn’t require American citizens to carry papers.’

At that point, unless there are strange noises coming from the trunk, you should be free to go. But the ACLU will continue fighting it anyway.

“We’re continuing to fight it, at the end of the day it’s unconstitutional and that’s what we’re hoping that the courts will ultimately decide,” says Lopez.

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