What is reasonable suspicion as it relates to the Arizona Immigration Law?

[Tony_FLADEM]

I always hear supporters of that law say police must apply reasonable suspicion when stopping people and asking them about their immigration status.

What is that exactly? Is a Caucasian driving an expensive automobile going to be stopped? Or is someone with dark skin driving an older automobile - most likely.


They can't apply this law without profiling people.

[arcane1]

1. Pigmentation and accent/language are all I can think of n/t

[Axle_techie]

2. From what I understand

They can only check if they have you for something else, like speeding or running a stop sign. They cannot pull you over because they suspect you are an illegal. Once pulled over, if they have a reasonable suspicion that you may be illegal, they ask for your papers. Will they ask for papers from the rich white guy driving a caddy? nope, most likely not. I think they should change the wording to asking everyone for proof of citizenship and see how many people support it then. How many of the white people that support it will start yelling that it is a violation of their liberties when they don't care that it may amount to a violation of a hispanic citizens liberty...

[Riftaxe]

3. reasonable suspicion is a decades old legal

standard, why don't you look it up. Here i will assist you in your laziness by pointing to the supreme court of 1968.

[GSLevel9]

4. no...

as I understand... if you're seeing a cop in the normal day to day stuff like 55 in a 35 zone, he'll ask you for your DL. No DL and you go to jail. Go to jail and they discover you're undocumented and you go home.

That's what it says in black/white.

In REALITY... cops are going to be swooping on Hispanics in Az like Buford T. Justice "What we're dealing with here is a complete lack of respect for the law"

Remember the movie stereotype of the cop with the nightstick... "Amigo, I'm pulling you over for a broken <WHACK!!> tail light."

[slackmaster]

6. I have to wonder if a great swooping down on Hispanics by AZ LEOs will happen, for one reason...

A lot of Arizona law enforcement officers are themselves Hispanic.

[GSLevel9]

7. all the cops in the PHX 'burbs

like Scottsdale, Mesa, Peoria, Tempe, Chandler, etc... are all white guys who spend off days at the gym working on their pecs and biceps.

[Igel]

11. That's too funny.

And you're wrong.

My brother lives in Peoria, his neighors work out for some competition that involves dragging trucks down the street and lifting danged heavy stuff.

Still, they're a husband/wife cop team, so they're not all guys, nor do they spend off days just working out in the gym.

[izquierdista]

8. Those are the worst kind

Nothing worse than some pocho who has to prove he is better than they are.

[slackmaster]

5. As I understand it, they can't stop people solely to check immigration status

When they have stopped a person for something else, e.g. a traffic violation, that's when the process of developing a reasonable suspicion about the person's immigration status can begin.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/02/nation/la-na-immigration-dvd-20100702

[MedicalAdmin]

9. They cannot us race / origin as a primary reason.

In other words they need to be stopping you for something else. Of course if you drive, you can be pulled over for some reason. Same if you walk. Reasonable suspicion is merely a matter of documenting your reasons and connecting them with a statute.

[immune]

10. A really good tan.