"Anchor Babies" and the 14th Amendment

[JJIII]

Originally Posted by Boreas

Gotta be arrested for something else first, JJ.

John

So in California if you are just questioned about a crime that has been committed, but not arrested, your immigration status doesn't matter? Oh yeah... makes perfect sense to me! I'm not arguing with your interpretation of the law, just the logic of the law itself. If a person is here illegally that seems to me to be a violation of the law.

[finnbow]

So in California if you are just questioned about a crime that has been committed, but not arrested, your immigration status doesn't matter? Oh yeah... makes perfect sense to me!

One of the arguments against the Arizona law (by the police themselves) is that it will make it more difficult to get witness statements if witnesses to crimes are illegal aliens because they will not want to have any contact with the police after this law is in place.

If a person is here illegally that seems to me to be a violation of the law.

True, but due process is due process. Consider for a moment the things you may do, may have done, or may sympathize with doing that are illegal (having an unregistered gun at home, serving your 20 year old son a beer, smoking a joint in the privacy of your home... whatever), should the police be able to bust down your door without a warrant because they suspect that someone is amiss (or not)? Not to mention that Arizona has huge numbers of legal Hispanic residents and citizens (many predate the Gringos considerably). Because they look like illegals (dark complected), is it OK to say that there is a decent likelihood that they're illegal, so lets demand they prove their citizenship/residency status on the spot?

These are the issues. Let's not oversimplify things just to ensure that we maintain a certain prescribed level of outrage.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by JJIII

If a person is here illegally that seems to me to be a violation of the law.

Actually, being here "illegally" isn't a crime. That's one of the problems with the Arizona law in that it creates a new category of crime. Under Federal law one can't be criminally prosecuted and incarcerated for being an undocumented alien, just deported because their presence here is unauthorized.

John

[JJIII]

Thanks John. Interesting discussion.