Discrimination is never acceptable

This letter is in response to the editorial about the “papers please” provision on YumaSun.com on Sept. 7. This editorial discussed the enforcement of “papers please,” which is a new provision of the state's controversial SB 1070 anti-immigration law.

This provision allows local police to extend their enforcement on minor infractions such as stops and or citations if a person is suspected to be “illegally” in this country. This outrageous law violates civil rights and is unconstitutional as well as demeaning toward those with or without “papers.”

Local police already follow these procedures — procedures that allow them to question someone about their legal status in this country once they are lawfully in their custody. The difference now is that there will be no discretion.

So I ask myself why the Supreme Court would support such a measure that would encourage and condone unfair racial profiling and in my eyes create new problems. This surely opens the door for more discrimination against Latinos, Hispanics, Mexicans, etc.

This state already has a bad record of using “minor infractions” to detain and question any minority about their legal status, so why change the degree of rules and regulations already in effect? Why should police have the right or the power to do immigration checks on those who seem or look illegal?

Don't U.S. immigration officers already have that duty on their to-do list? Doesn't this mirror existing federal immigration laws? This is definitely going to cause more controversy now than it did back in 2010 when it was first presented and blocked by Judge Susan Bolton.

I believe discrimination is never OK and I have my doubts about this new provision.

I strongly believe this is just an opportunity for overly zealous officers to treat and profile minorities unfairly as they have in the past here in Arizona.

Diana Soriano

Phoenix