Russell Pearce's War on the Brown Hits House Committee Wednesday: Can This Unconstitutional Legislation Be Halted?

The House version of a Russell Pearce bill that would essentially make racial profiling a requirement of all local law enforcement agencies in this state hits the MAPS committee tomorrow, and let's hope it gets lost in there.

MAPS stands for Military Affairs and Public Safety, and as the Republicans control the House, it's unlikely HB 2632 will be stopped in transit to passage. But then, bigotry and oppression rarely acquiesce without a fight.

The bill mirrors Pearce's Senate Bill 1070, which would make it a trespassing violation to be in Arizona sans papers (despite the federal government having plenary power over immigration).

It also forces local law enforcement agencies to become enforcers of federal immigration law, whether they want to or not. Of course, it doesn't allocate any money for this new mandate. Know why? 'Cause the state doesn't have any! Ba-dum-pa. But why worry about that when you can bash the brown?

There's also all this Orwellian language in there about how a cop can arrest you if he has "probable cause" to believe you have committed "any public offense" that would make you removable from the United States.

Now, just where would this probable cause come from? If a cop overhears you listening to a Spanish-language radio station, maybe? Or spots you ordering a taco from a street-side food vendor? Perhaps if you share Gabriel Iglesias' skin tone?

Pearce also goes out of his way to do everything but legislate day laborers out of existence. (Hey, if he could, he would.)

You nativists out there might think it's just swell to give brown people a hard time, and kick as many of them out of state as possible. I would, however, point out for you nimrods that even those here illegally pay sales tax. You know, that tax everyone is increasing because the state is bankrupt? Yeah, that's the one.

But who needs parks or rest stops or prisons or police or libraries or even a Capitol building! As long as the ethnic cleansing continues apace, right?

Ah, Arizona, sweet Arizona. So backward. 

Well, here are a list of MAPS committee members to call and pester about their stance on this racist piece of legislation. (Not all of them support it, obviously.) The hearing is 9 a.m. Wednesday, February 24 in room HHR 3.