Arizona law clone sparks state opposition

LANSING — While Arizona continues to suffer through boycotts, protests and lawsuits over its recently enacted SB 1070 — which mandates local police question people involved in police contact about their citizenship — Michigan may soon wrestle with a series of bills directed at undocumented residents as well.

The bills took center stage last week at a rally, sponsored by Rep. David Agema (R-Grandville) and featuring GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike Bouchard, as well as Macomb county State Rep. Kim Meltzer (R-Macomb Twp.). Meltzer’s SB 1070 clone legislation was the high profile focus of the rally, but Agema is promoting a series of six bills addressing immigration concerns that he says Democratic leaders in the House refuse to bring up for a vote.

Meltzer’s legislation, which is still in the process of being drafted by Legislative Services, has Michigan law enforcement uneasy, much as their counterparts in Arizona have been since passage of the controversial bill. If Meltzer’s bill is a clone of the Arizona law, as she has suggested, it will require all aliens to carry registration documents with them at all times and to produce them whenever asked to do so by a police officer.

The Arizona law also requires officers to ask for such documentation during any “lawful stop, detention or arrest made by a law enforcement official” where they have a “reasonable suspicion” that the person might be in the country illegally.

It is the “reasonable suspicion” standard that has provoked much of the controversy, as legal scholars and police officers alike wonder what factor or set of factors might trigger a “reasonable suspicion” but would not have triggered the “probable cause” standard of the 4th Amendment to the Constitution.

Some Democratic legislators are speaking out against the Arizona law being replicated in Michigan. Meltzer’s fellow Macomb County lawmaker Fred Miller (D-Mt. Clemens) told the Messenger that he opposes the idea.

“We need to deal with our broken immigration system, but this is simply not an acceptable solution,” said Miller. “We’ve been working for years to attract international business to Michigan and create new jobs. This proposal would send all the wrong signals to new industries that are thinking about investing in our state. It would be a serious setback to our job-creation plan.”

State Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) who drew criticism by GOP lawmakers for hosting a protest at the Capitol several weeks ago calling for the extension of workers’ compensation benefits to the undocumented, has introduced a resolution in the House to condemn Arizona’s law.

But the three GOP leaders who spoke at the rally last week say the core issues is not race, but legal status.

“The bottom line is, if you are illegal, you are not welcome here,” Meltzer told the crowd at the Capitol rally.

While the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police has not taken any formal stand on the issue, and is unlikely to do so before September, Tom Hendrickson, executive director of the group, says the legislation is likely to be viewed with skeptical eyes by law enforcement in the state.

“I can’t see law enforcement in Michigan being receptive,” says Hendrickson of the Police Chiefs organization. “Law enforcement is very sensitive to any type of racial profiling situation that might be encouraged…Legislation such as Arizona’s exasperates the whole situation as some provisions allow for, calls for racial profiling.”

Law enforcement is not alone in expressing concerns about the proposed Arizona clone law.

Nadia Tonova, Policy Coodinator for the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) says the proposal would make Michigan less safe.

“There’s a reason the Arizona Police Chief’s Association opposes this law,” said Tonovo. “Law enforcement has limited resources, and wants to focus on real threats to our safety, not chasing around immigrants. Police priorities should be set by the police, not by politicians with an agenda.”

“Local law enforcement should be allowed to do their job and focus on real threats to our safety, not be forced to chase around students or workers with expired visas,” said Commissioner Art Reyes III of the Michigan Commission on Spanish Speaking Affairs. “We need real solutions for our broken immigration system, not more scapegoats.”

“Michigan has a strong civil rights tradition,” said Stephanie Chang, President of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans Vote – Michigan, “and this law has serious civil rights problems. It requires law enforcement to detain people and ask them for their papers for no other reason than how they look. I don’t want Michigan to be a state where people are targeted based on their appearance or ethnicity. I had hoped those days were behind us.”

Faith leaders have also spoken out against the proposed law.

“Such a law would be contrary to our basic values of compassion and human dignity,” said Monsignor Mike Hazard from St. Joseph Church in Kalamazoo and the Michigan Organizing Project. “We’re trying to build a society that shows respect to everyone, not treat people with suspicion, first thing. Comprehensive immigration reform is more needed now than ever.”

But it was not just on law enforcement and social issues that organizations opposed the proposed the law. Citing the boycotts and economic hits coming to Arizona in the wake of the enactment of SB 1070, business leaders are also worried that could happen in Michigan.

“Michigan has worked hard to recruit international investors and companies, as well as American high-tech businesses. This has created thousands of jobs. Why would we want to drive these investors away with a law that makes Michigan hostile to immigrants?” said Fay Beydoun, executive director of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce. “Why would you bring your business toMichigan knowing that the police might stop you or your employees, just because of how you look? This proposal will cost us jobs.”