Recently in Arizona, lawmakers took a stand for their police force, passing a bill that unties the politically correct mandates, which currently hamper their law enforcement’s hands. According to the Los Angeles Times, “the bill, known as SB 1070, makes it a misdemeanor to lack proper immigration paperwork in Arizona.”

However, the legal implications of this bill extend far beyond merely making it a crime to not carry immigration paperwork. It also requires law enforcement officers, if they form a “reasonable suspicion” that someone is an illegal immigrant, to determine the person’s immigration status.

The L.A. Times mentions that “currently, officers can inquire about someone’s immigration status only if the person is a suspect in another crime. The bill allows officers to avoid the immigration issue if it would be impractical or hinder another investigation.” In essence, the bill places the action of determining whether a citizen has proper immigration paperwork in the hands of the officers, at their discretion. It also gives them the freedom to inquire into it if they have reasonable suspicion, a freedom which is being decried by immigrant rights groups.

According to the opposition, this bill will bring about a police state in Arizona, meaning that if the discretion is left up to the police officers, they are likely to abuse their power and there is little the common man can do to stop it. The other argument against it is that the bill is that it leads directly to racial profiling, a heinous crime in the minds of the politically correct.

However, claims of racial profiling are often baseless charges. If a specific crime happens over and over and is constantly enacted by a specific race of people, reason herself dictates that if that crime were to happen again, that specific group of people ought to be examined for fault. To ignore evidence that shows the connection between the specific crime and the specific race would be to err. Yet, cries of racial profiling are directed at even the mere mention of this connection, as if police officers ought to worry about giving offense versus seeking justice, when the two become intertwined. If a police officer’s job is to enforce the law, and the passing of this bill gives aid to that effort and removes any hindrance the call to political correctness might provide, the passing of this bill is a good thing and must not be decried.