Does Obama bother reading any legislation he complains about (or worse, votes on)? Or does he rely on the MSM to give him the executive summary? Judging by this ridiculous example of bias from the NY Daily News, “Obama Slams Arizona Ethnic Profiling Bill” (emphasis mine), I’d say the latter (and yes, I realize Obama obviously didn’t read that report before complaining). Obama has declared Arizona’s law “misguided” and “irresponsible.” In what’s either ignorance or willful deception, Obama said the following:
“You can try to make it really tough on people who look like they, quote, unquote look like illegal immigrants. One of the things that the law says is that local officials are allow to ask somebody who they have a suspicion might be an illegal immigrant for their papers — but you can imagine if you are a Hispanic American in Arizona, your great, great grandparents may have been there before Arizona was even a state. But now suddenly if you don’t have your papers and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you’re going to be harassed, that’s something that could potentially happen.”
Again I ask: has Obama even read the law? He ought to, considering it’s only 16 pages, infinitesimally smaller than either the Stimulus Act or Obamacare. I think it’s time we took a sober look at the “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act.”
First of all, the act does nothing more than enforce federal immigration law. Two items are worth quoting in full:
“The terms of this act regarding immigration shall be construed to have the meanings given to them under federal immigration law.” (emphasis mine)
And for those concerned for civil rights:
“This act shall be implemented in a manner consistent with federal laws regulating immigration, protecting the civil rights of all persons and respecting the privileges and immunities of United States citizens.” (emphasis mine)
The act mainly addresses employing illegal aliens. 10 of 16 pages concern employing illegal aliens and the penalties for doing so. For those concerned with “civil rights,” the act allows for “entrapment.” Employers are required to verify the identity of potential employees through an “e-verify” program or risk losing “economic development incentives” from a government entity. So no more prospecting in front of Home Depot (in Arizona, anyway).
Obama insinuates that cops will become Nazis, demanding to see your papers, and pulling over innocent motorists based solely on race. Again, the “anointed one” clearly hasn’t read the bill. For reference, the relevant portion is as follows:
“Notwithstanding any other law, a Peace Officer may lawfullystop any person who is operating a motor vehicle if the officer has reasonable suspicion to believe the person is in violation of any civil traffic law and this section.” (emphasis mine)
For reference, “this section” refers to human smuggling. And the cop must have “reasonable suspicion.” In other words, cops can’t pull someone over based solely on race. If there was any confusion, the act states unequivically:
“The attorney general or county attorney shall not investigate complaints that are based solely on race, color or national origin.” (emphasis mine)
In other words, the burden falls on the cop to prove that he had “reasonable suspicion”–and he’s expressly prohibited from racial profiling. Then again, students of Alinsky naturally see all cops as “pigs” and part of “the establishment,” so they’d automatically assume the worst (see the previous incident with Professor Gates).
The Arizona Act does nothing more than enforce federal law, so naturally Obama hates it. And why not? Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has intentionally highlighted Obama’s laxness on illegal immigration.