SB1070 Update: Guilty until proven innocent

by David Safier

Doesn't this sound a little police state-ish to the right wing? It does to me.

If a police officer has "reasonable suspicion" you are in the U.S. without the proper papers, you are considered guilty until proven innocent. Based on nothing more than looking nervous and wearing the wrong clothes — we're told skin color and facial characteristics will have nothing to do with it, which I seriously doubt — you have to produce an accepted form of identification.

If you don't have one of the accepted forms of ID, you can be taken into custody until it's produced.

Now, if a 7/11 has been robbed, I'm seen speeding from the premises and I fit the description of the thief, I can see how I should be hauled down to the police station, even though the officer isn't 100% certain I've committed a crime.

If someone is charging items on other people's credit cards, and I have incriminating evidence on my computer, I can see why I should be hauled down to the police station even though the officer isn't 100% certain I've committed a crime.

But if I happen to be a passenger in a car with a broken tail light, or if a police officer engages me in conversation on the street, or if my front yard is out of compliance with city law, I can't see why I should be hauled down to the police station because I have no driver's license or I have an out-of-state driver's license.

Why should I be taken to a police station because I'm a citizen exercising my right not to carry papers?

That sounds — dare I say it? — un-American