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?I wouldn?t want to show proof of citizenship, but I also don?t feel it is racial profiling."

"You are going to look different if you are an alien, and cops know."

Says an Arizonan named ? to the NYT's delight? ? Mr. White.

[The new Arizona law] gives the local police broad powers to check documentation ?when practicable? of anyone they reasonably suspect is an illegal immigrant....

What will be seen as constituting reasonable suspicion? How will it be possible not to unfairly burden all the Hispanic citizens?

?This law might kick some of these immigrants out,? said Mr. Lowis, 76.... ?They vandalize the golf course, throwing flags in the ponds. Burglaries. There are too many immigrants. I get tired of seeing all these people standing on the corner.?

Such sentiments propelled the bill through the Republican-controlled Legislature, with supporters listing well-publicized cases in which illegal immigrants committed rapes and shot and killed police officers....

The linked article is called "Growing Split in Arizona Over Immigration."

No Democrats in the Legislature supported the bill, and only one Republican voted against it.

While those opposed to the law are making the most noise....

No details in this article about that.

... the quiet support can be found here, though some people are uneasy about being cast as anti-Hispanic and several people interviewed declined to be named out of concern they would be thought of as prejudiced.

?I don?t want people to be afraid to come,? said Pam Sutherland, who is a window manufacturer and a fan of the crime sweeps but is also concerned about the state?s image. ?I just want them to do it legally.?

For many, though, support for the law comes down to a way to vent frustration that, in their view, the federal government has not done enough to control immigration ? particularly in a state on the border where reports of drug busts, houses overcrowded with illegal immigrants and people dying in the desert trying to get here fill the airwaves.

So where's the "growing split"? I don't get the headline, and I sense the NYT's frustration looking for evidence of anti-Hispanic attitudes. Where is the discord? It seems like ordinary people are struggling with a serious problem and the ethics of solving it. (The 2 political parties are, of course, acting in accordance with their perceived political interests.)

Full post as published by Althouse on April 26, 2010 (boomark / email).