I like the spirit of this law. I love the day laborer attorney saying "its designed to make life miserable for illegals so they self-deport" as though this is a shocking and outageous concept? No Sh@t Sherlock, buy a clue. I do however have two problems with the law. The first is that it basically gives the police the right to say "Your papers please". This bugs me. There is curently no criminal requirement to carry ID unless you are driving and I like like it this way. Secondly, it gives too much discretion to the cops. They will (quite rationally) racially profile latinos. All it will take is one latino US citizen detained for not having papers and this whole thing gets thrown out on 14th ammendment grounds.
I would propose this alternative. Everyone arrested for a crime (regardless of race) must prove that they are here legally. If not, the law should instruct judges to regard them as a flight risk and deny them bail accordingly, as well as mandating that they be handed over to ICE. That way, the criminal illegals go, and no claims of racism can be made. Secondly, use state labor laws to make it a state crime to knowingly hire an illegal. Send undercover latino officers to those day labor sites, have them tell the prospective employer they have no green card and if they are hired anyway, arrest and jail the bastard. Every polce department in the country runs these stings on liquor stores to stop them selling to minors. It works. It should work for illegals as well. Again, there is no room for charges of discrimination or racial profiling. Just a thought.
FQ13