Jack & Jill Politics

The folks supporting Arizona’s new immigration law, SB 170, claim there’s no way it will increase racial profiling. Yet here’s a classic example that’s probably happening all over the United States, as we speak — just as we know right now, a black man is being racially profiled for no reason by some cop somewhere just for walking or driving while black. We only know about this one because the victim was able to get in touch with his Member of Congress who was luckily sympathetic. We’re talking about an everyday, ordinary Chicago resident who actually had all of his papers on him — and wasn’t believed nor fact-checked! From HipHopWired:

According to published reports, Eduardo Caraballo, a U.S. citizen born in the United States, was detained for over three days in Chicago on suspicion of being an illegal immigrant.

Caraballo, who was originally arrested in conjunction with a stolen car states that after his mother posted bail, he was not able to go home due to authorities questioning his immigration status.

Despite the fact Caraballo produced identifying documents and even his birth certificate, he was held by federal immigration authorities over the weekend and threatened with deportation.

After fighting for three days with officials, Caraballo was finally released after Chicago state congressman, Luis Guiterrez — a vocal supporter of immigration reform — intervened on his behalf.   Guiterrez stated,

“In Arizona, they want everybody to be able to prove they’re legally in the country. They want everybody to prove that they’re an American citizen. Here we had an American citizen, that the federal government… could not determine, for more than three days, his status as an American citizen. It’s very, very, very dangerous ground to tread.”

Caraballo was born in Puerto Rico, making him a natural-born citizen of the United States. He moved to the mainland as an infant, and now lives in Chicago. Reports also indicate that Caraballo “is considering legal action.”

Again, I’m reminded of the Fugitive Slave Act and its polarizing, destructive impact on our nation leading up to a Civil War. That law practically made it illegal NOT to racially profile blacks as fugitive slaves and ask them for their papers (which could then be easily destroyed throwing a freed person back into slavery). If you think this doesn’t impact black folks, think again, btw. Many African-Americans, since we come in many shades and facial features, might be targeted and harassed under this type of ridiculous & racist legislation. It’s happened to me — I’ve been mistaken for Latino many times.

The whole purpose of the Arizona’s immigration law is designed to make it legal to target brown for the shakedown. It must be stopped and I applaud Attorney General Eric Holder’s leadership at the Justice Department, working with police around the country on this. IMHO, Caraballo should definitely sue to teach the INS a lesson. Sounds like another area of reconfiguration for the Obama Administration to tackle. From AZCentral on May 26:

Top Justice Department officials have drafted a legal challenge that could be filed in federal court in Arizona asserting that the state’s new immigration law is unconstitutional because it impinges on the federal government’s inherent authority to police the nation’s Southwest border with Mexico, sources said Wednesday.

At the same time, the government officials said, the department’s civil rights division is considering possible legal action against the law on the basis that it amounts to racial profiling of Latinos who are legally in Arizona but conceivably could be asked to provide documents proving their citizenship.

Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday met with 10 police chiefs who object to the law, and he promised them he would act on the recommendations “soon,” a spokesman said. The police chiefs urged him and the Obama administration, which has reservations about the Arizona law, to stop it from going into effect because they said it would seriously hamper local police work if officers are asked to serve as border police.