Legal Commentary

Jared Polis Appointed to House Judiciary Committee

By Jeralyn

Colorado Rep. Jared Polis has been appointed to the House Judiciary Committee. He says he is looking forward to working on immigration reform.

What does he think of Arizona's law? He's denounced it.

[I]t is Congress that needs to act to pass comprehensive immigration reform. The people of Arizona want a solution. They have sunken to desperate and unconstitutional means and have sent a signal to us, here in the Capitol, to take action to fix this important issue. It should take no courage for members of Congress to support immigration reform. (my emphasis.)

[More...]

In a floor speech to the House when Arizona first passed SB 1070: The bill will thwart efforts to curb racial profiling and result in increased crime.

On Tuesday, lawmakers in Arizona passed new immigration enforcement legislation that allows local law enforcement officials to single out undocumented immigrants based solely upon a ``reasonable belief'' that they are undocumented and imprison them for up to 6 months. This bill will significantly undermine the efforts of many law enforcement agencies towards curbing racial profiling by police throughout the country and will increase crime by taking cops off their beats fighting crime and instead using them to enforce Federal immigration laws.

Arizona would force untrained State police officers to take the role of Federal immigration agents and somehow make the determination of whether the person is documented or not based upon their subjective belief or observations. It effectively mandates local police to engage in racial profiling and discrimination. This law would mandate the arrest of a person who can't present documentation of legal status. We can imagine all sorts of abuses and unnecessary harassment that will result from such an ill-conceived law. When one goes to the grocery store or takes one's kids to school, do we take a passport with us? I know I don't.

Rep. Polis wrote a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder telling him to stand by his word and stop medical marijuana raids.

I think Polis is a welcome addition to this important committee, through which so many crime bills pass. I don't think he's as progressive on these issues as I'd like, but I've always found him willing to listen, and that's a big deal in these crazy times. Congrats, Jared.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on May 06, 2010 (boomark / email).