Irony.

FOR ANY LAWFUL CONTACT MADE BY A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL OR AGENCY OF THIS STATE OR A COUNTY, CITY, TOWN OR OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THIS STATE WHERE REASONABLE SUSPICION EXISTS THAT THE PERSON IS AN ALIEN WHO IS UNLAWFULLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES, A REASONABLE ATTEMPT SHALL BE MADE, WHEN PRACTICABLE, TO DETERMINE THE IMMIGRATION STATUS OF THE PERSON. THE PERSON'S IMMIGRATION STATUS SHALL BE VERIFIED WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PURSUANT TO 8 UNITED STATES CODE SECTION 1373(c). Arizona SB1070 Article 8, section B, emphasis mine.

I wonder if anyone else would find this funny. Tea Party attendees typically rant about government interference, calling any form of government interference by it's most extreme forms: Fascism, communism, etc. I'm generalizing here, but it seems true - I'll remind you that I have actually attended a tea party.

What's the tea party response to Arizona's new "Show me your papers" law? Oh, they're all for it. (note: the Arizona tea party has declared that they support it. The rest of the tea parties across the country either support it or are silent on it, and none oppose)

A law that assumes that you are guilty of being a noncitizen if you can't produce your birth certificate or Social Security Card (or some other proof of residency that most people don't carry with them - especially now in the time of identity theft). A law that gives police not only the right but the mandate to stop ANYONE they have contact with and demand papers and arrest them if they do not happen to have papers on them.

I wonder, sometimes, if they know anything about Nazi Germany at all. Allow me to remind you: Checkpoints. Papers. Arbitrary arrests. Fear. A society rapidly shifting from open to closed. This should all feel very familiar.

This legislation bears all of the hallmarks of police state authoritarianism. And white people shouldn't feel safe either. Maybe if the Arizona government develops some reason to fear you, whitey, maybe they'll assume that you're an illegal canadian. Papers, please.

It's spreading, too. Legislation is being introduced to bring the same authoritarianism to Utah. FUN!

Have you ever been in an internal border patrol checkpoint? Oh, I have! And I was pulled over and profiled, despite the fact that I'm very white.

It was Texas. Near El Paso. And I looked rather like a hippy at the time (long, wild curly hair). I got pulled from the car. I got screamed at. "WHERE ARE THE DRUGS?" They asked (Answer: Not on me). Detained. Handcuffed. No evidence of any wrongdoing, and especially no evidence of me NOT being a citizen. I was released after about 45 minutes of them searching the car.

Can you understand why I'm opposed to this sort of legislation? Anything that gives a government agency new and sweeping authority to detain anyone they desire is directly in conflict with our liberty.

I don't really give a shit what your views on immigration are, this sort of law is in opposition to liberty.

You want to stop immigration? Well how about bringing the troops home from Iraq, every last one of them, and putting them in the Southwest desert, patrolling the border?

And all you legal immigrants out there? Leave your fucking papers at home. They can't arrest all of you.