The 4th of July is not Independence Day in Arizona

Today has not been a day of independence for many undocumented immigrants, as well as legal Hispanics in the state of Arizona. Their freedom is scarred by State Senator Russell Pierce’s despicable bill, SB1070, due to go into effect July 29. It requires local police officers to check the legal status of anyone for which there is any suspicion they might be an illegal immigrant, and if there was a legal reason to stop them in the first place.

It is tragic to witness—I live in Arizona—so much hatred against a single group of people. The fight against illegal immigration is beginning to parallel 1960’s racism against Blacks in the South, which I also witnessed first-hand.

It makes one wonder if some of the citizens of Arizona, and those in other states throughout the U.S. passing similar legislation, have forgotten what the word independence means, and what our forefathers had in mind when they gave us the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

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