Supreme Court Arizona Immigration Law Decision: SB 1070 is Un-American

For two years, Arizona's controversial 1070 law has been the topic of heated discussion, between those in favor and those opposed. Since the law was first introduced, numerous changes have been made to appease those opposing the law, namely the Latino population and the federal government. What makes the law unpopular with so many people is the state's ability to stop, detain, arrest, and deport any person law enforcement deems has an illegal status. Also, those arrested can be held indefinitely until the process is complete. The law turns innocent people into criminals based on their ethnicity.

Arizona has faced this same type of backlash before, by trying to introduce similar bills in 2007 and 2008. Most recently, this year the state banned ethnic studies in schools and is pushing the agenda up to the university level. All these attacks on the Latino/ Hispanic population beg the question: What is it that those in state legislation fear? It would seems from all these initiatives that they are afraid of losing  the "purity" of their male-dominant ethnicity. But doing this at the expense of another ethnic group which has committed no  crime is simply wrong.

The Hispanic/ Latino population has and will continue contributing greatlty to America. They deserve the same opportunites as any other culture of people who came to the U.S. Singling out people due to their ethnicity or legal status is a form of injustice. Hispanics come to America for the same reasons as anyone else, for opportunites that are absent in their own countries. How can the United States call themselves "the leader of the free world" when we set examples such as this? If the Supreme Court rules in favor of SB 1070, it will spell disaster for this nation. 

By ratifying this bill into law, the Supreme Court will create conditions for any state to challenge federal law, whenever it feels fit. Latinos and Hispanics will become marginalized by employers, universities, friends, and even family. People will walk on eggshells, scared at any moment they can be be hunted down and asked to produce documents of U.S. citizenship. Tension and protests will follow, and this law will effectively create a police state. People might take the law into their own hands, through vigilante justice. 

Who knows what the Supreme Court will decide on, but hopefully they realize that there are our only cons to this decision, and not pros. Let us learn from history, and not forget what occurred during the civil rights movement and during the U.S. persecution and attempted extermination of the Native American Indians.