Arizona's new immigration bill: crime victims beware

Come with me.  Down here.  Close your eyes for a moment and imagine that you’re a predator, choosing victims.  You want a family you can ingratiate yourself to, eventually molesting their children and emptying their bank account, or at least their coffee can.  You want to sell fake insurance to an old woman, an empty computer tower to a school kid.  You want to stalk and tackle a young woman walking home from a waitress shift.  Whom do you choose?If you’re doing it right, you’ll look for someone who probably won’t be believed or taken seriously if they dare to report whatever crime you’re planning against them; perhaps a person with perceived mental health issues, a disability, a reputation as a liar, or anyone on the fringe or disenfranchised.  But if you’re really slick, you’ll go for someone who won’t say a damn thing in the first place- someone who won’t report.   That’s already the case with people who fear reporting crime because of government backlash against them.  For all the fear-mongering about the terrible things undocumented aliens do to US citizens (read: brown threatening white), the facts are most of them are here desperate to work and desirous of nothing but a very low profile.  Because of that, they often keep quiet about crime and abuse within their own communities and whatever is forced upon them from without.  It’s an age-old phenomenon, and it’s about to get a whole lot worse in Arizona.I love Arizona.  I’ve traveled every corner of this magnificent state and have found wonderful people, breath taking scenery and a diversity in nature that is all but unparalleled.  I also lived in what the Mexicans call the Frontera, that is Northern Sonora where I learned the language and found a second family through a close childhood friend who now lives outside of Phoenix.  I know the frustration on both sides of the border, and I can understand the deep-seated feeling by many Arizonans that the Federal government can’t or won’t provide the necessary border security that might make laws like SB 1070 less tempting.  Regardless, the law is Constitutionally repugnant, mean-spirited, begging of abuse, and it stigmatizes and threatens further the Hispanic ethnic group, many of whom are citizens and legal aliens.  These people might now feel panic nudging them when they realize they’ve forgotten their wallets and are on the street facing a police inquiry because of “reasonable suspicion.”I don’t have room for a full criticism of the law; there’s no shortage of that out there anyway.  What concerns me immediately is the further chilling effect this law will have on an already frightened and disenfranchised population when it comes to crime.  I’ve studied the text of the law closely and I’m aware that police officers are not supposed to inquire about citizenship when it might impede or obstruct an investigation.  I’ve worked with police officers for years and find the vast majority to be decent and conscientious, and I don’t fear police abuse, while it’s certainly possible, as much as others on my side of the political spectrum.  Regardless, the message anyone will hear who is undocumented or could be mistaken for undocumented wherever cops are concerned is “back away and keep quiet.”  Predators will act accordingly and target even more victims of (or near) these suspected groups.Take, for instance, the 3.6 million people of Maricopa County who, if they are arrested, are held in the custody of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, among the most despicable people to bear responsibility for the custody of other human beings in recent American memory.  Arpaio would be a perverse but harmless clown were he a consultant somewhere peddling his sick views to municipalities.  Instead he is among the most important law enforcement officials in the state, and he is to law enforcement what Joe McCarthy was to patriotism.  Arpaio’s jail system has been sued multiple times for human rights abuses; he is under an almost continuous state of investigation for mistreatment and mysterious, violent deaths that take place in his jails.  His facilities are legendary for their lack of decent food and medical care, regardless of the fact that most of his inmates are awaiting trial and have been convicted of nothing.  Arpaio brags about how harshly he treats his inmates and relishes in publicly humiliating them.  This is all in the name of justice and deterrence, apparently, convincing his inmates that time in jail isn’t much fun.  No sir, it’s not.  It’s also not legally appropriate to punish someone who hasn’t been convicted of a crime.  That would include arrested persons who are in the US legally but unable to overcome the remarkably totalitarian presumption of guilt if they forget their “papers” on the street some day.  How long does it take to verify one’s legal status, or process them for deportation, while one languishes in Arpaio’s jail?  We don’t know.  What we do know is that most people will do or avoid doing almost anything to escape a sentence like that.  But that’s exactly what they have to look forward to under this law in Arizona’s largest county.  No conviction necessary.So imagine an elderly undocumented man, brought to the US with family, wanting to tell someone about the auto mechanic who fleeced his son-in-law for a car that still won’t start.  Imagine a 16 year-old undocumented girl, desperate to tell someone about the classmate who is stalking her, or the family member who is molesting her.  Imagine an undocumented mother of a toddler, holding her child with trembling hands as she wonders what to do to comfort her after a worker at daycare has beaten and burned her for giggling at nap time.  Imagine these people as victims, and not as human beings.  If you’re still thinking like a predator, you’re smiling ear to ear.