For 19-year-old Hugo Carrillo Escobedo, SB1070 is about more than just 鈥渟howing your papers.鈥 After 鈥渟quealing鈥 his tires, Hugo wound up in immigration detention for eight hours. Hugo鈥檚 story is particularly compelling because he was initially just given a citation for the traffic violation and immediately released. But the police officer later showed up at his house, saying: 鈥淒o you know about SB1070? If I don鈥檛 report you, I could lose my job.鈥
Unfortunately, unlawful, prolonged detentions will become rampant in Arizona if Section 2(b) of SB1070 is allowed to go into effect, as local police officers across the state will be required to act as de facto immigration agents. And today, we are one step closer to that reality after Wednesday鈥檚 ruling from a federal judge in Phoenix.
The residents of Maricopa County already know this reality all too well. For the past five years, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has terrorized Latinos, launching a relentless campaign vilifying Mexicans and then using minor traffic stops 鈥 a cracked windshield or broken tail light -- as a legal cover to stop and interrogate them about their immigration status. His practices amount to racial profiling for immigration enforcement, and that鈥檚 precisely the type of policing that SB1070 is modeled after.
Although the court denied our request to block Section 2(b) from going into effect, the fight against SB1070 isn鈥檛 over by any means. We plan to ramp up our litigation efforts to seek justice on behalf of all victims of racial profiling and illegal detentions. And we will continue to send a strong message to policymakers in other states that it鈥檚 un-American to target people like Hugo simply because of the color of their skin.
It鈥檚 costly to force police officers like the one who detained Hugo to choose between keeping their jobs and subjecting people to pointless detention. And, most importantly, it鈥檚 illegal under our Constitution to subject people to increased police scrutiny, questioning and detention based simply on their race or national origin. If Section 2(b) goes into effect in 10 days, there鈥檚 no question that Latinos will be the number one target and we鈥檒l be there to seek justice on their behalf.
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