[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 53 (Thursday, April 15, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H2620-H2621]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        ARIZONA IMMIGRATION BILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Polis) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POLIS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to discuss the consequences of 
our failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
  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.
  The true culprit here, sadly, is the United States Congress, not 
Arizona. Because we have refused to take action, States are being 
pressured on all sides to act. States have haphazardly passed a 
patchwork of laws in an attempt to deal with the pressing issue of 
immigration. These local laws have unintended consequences which often 
lead to disastrous results, as we will surely see in Arizona.
  The Arizona law is a symptom of our broken immigration system, and 
only Congress can truly solve the crisis. Immigration is fundamentally 
a Federal issue, and yet we here in Congress continue to fail in 
meeting our responsibility that's allocated to this body and the 
Federal Government. Until we can pass comprehensive immigration reform, 
these misguided local laws will continue to be passed in vain attempts 
to address the issue at a local level,

[[Page H2621]]

and we will continue to suffer from the unintended consequences and 
abuses that they foster.
  Yes, Arizona will suffer because of this law. How can we expect to 
recover from our recession if we chase away our workers, shrink our tax 
base, and scare honest, hardworking American families? Blanket 
discrimination and persecution is not the way to solve the immigration 
or economic crisis.
  In order to prevent more States from following in Arizona's 
footsteps, I encourage my colleagues in Congress to act immediately to 
pass comprehensive immigration reform.

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