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South Asians fear racial profiling over US
court ruling
Tuesday June 26, 2012 09:14:07 AM,
Arun Kumar,
IANS
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Washington: South
Asian and other immigrant groups have joined the White House in
warning that a US Supreme Court decision upholding a controversial
provision of Arizona's immigration law could lead to racial
profiling.
In a 5-3 decision hailed by both sides as a victory, the court
Monday largely sided with President Barack Obama in striking down
most of the tough state law, but upheld what has been dubbed "show
me your papers" provision allowing police to check people's
immigration status.
"The national government has significant power to regulate
immigration," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority
opinion ruling the federal government had the power to block the
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A "pleased" Obama called on the Congress to "act on comprehensive
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He also expressed concern that immigration status checks allowed
by the court ruling could lead to racial profiling by police
saying: "No American should ever live under a cloud of suspicion
just because of what they look like."
The National Coalition of South Asian Organizations (NCSO), a
network of 42 community organizations led by South Asian Americans
Leading Together (SAALT), too feared the decision "will result in
racial profiling by state and local law enforcement of individuals
suspected of being undocumented."
"As an organization committed to upholding immigrant rights, SAALT
remains deeply concerned that the court failed to strike down the
papers please' aspects of the law," it said in a statement.
But Arizona's Republican Governor Jan Brewer called the court
decision "a victory for the people of Arizona and for America" and
asserted Arizona police had been trained to avoid racial
profiling, "and they don't profile."
The Obama administration had challenged four major provisions of
the Arizona law that never were enforced, pending the legal
ruling, arguing immigration matters were strictly a federal
function.
Provisions struck down included authorising police to arrest
immigrants without warrant, making it a state crime for
"unauthorized immigrants" to fail to carry identification papers
and soliciting work or even indicating their willingness to do so
with a "gesture or nod."
Similar laws passed by several other states are under challenge in
lower courts in Georgia, Alabama, Utah, Indiana and South
Carolina.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
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