How SB1070 will be applied in the real world.
Since I still see people acting like the police in AZ are going to sweep the streets like Nazi Gestapo , saying " papers please" to every person with brown skin ( Tho this is EXPLICITLY not allowed in the text of the law they spew this crap anyways).. I decided to write this .. How I see the law being used 90 ...if not more... percent of the time.
A police officer stops a car for any one or more of the following:
Speeding
Broken Tail Light
Expired Tags
Illegal lane change
Illegal U-Turn
DUI/DWAI
Improper stop at stop sign
Headlight Out
Broken Windshield
Running Red Light.
[I list all of these since in my 20 years of driving I have been pulled over for all of these reasons. some I got tickets for .. some I didn't. Point being I didn't get pulled over for " driving while white" just like an officer pulling someone over for anything on that list ( or any other traffic infraction for that matter ) is not pulling them over for "driving while brown". Give it up police enforce laws. Don't like getting traffic tickets? Don't break traffic laws.]
Officer asks the driver for Drivers License, Insurance and Car Registration.
Let's break down how an officer might be led to believe that the driver MAY be an Illegal Alien, and warrant further investigation.
Part 1 : Driver's License.
The Officer might be led to think that the driver is an illegal if one of the following happens:
The Driver has:
No License/ID (This does not include forgetting it at home this happens all the time the police know this that is why they have computers in their cars. they can pull up your information in that computer. If your from out of state the officer can ask dispatch to call the state you told them you have a DL/ID in and ask to verify that you have a DL/ID in said state and that you match the description on the DL/ID. I KNOW they can do this I've had it done by an officer when I left my New Mexico DL at home before I got my Colorado DL when I first moved to CO. And this was 15 years ago .. Now they may even have linked computer systems for all I know)
Driver License/ID from a foreign government.( I've heard that this happens a lot and often they are fake at that )
Part 2: Insurance
No Insurance
Insurance that lasted only long enough to get the car registered
Insurance in a name other then the Driver/ Car's registered owner.
(Tho these do not factor in if the Driver has a legal DL/ID added to the other things from part 1 raises reasons for the officer to suspect that the driver may be an Illegal Alien.)
Part 3: Registration
No Registration ( at least not current and or to the current owner)
Not Registered to the driver
Does not match name of the insurance.
(AGAIN these do not factor in if the Driver has a legal DL/ID added to the other things from part 1 and or 2 raises reasons for the officer to suspect that the driver may be an Illegal Alien.)
SO now lets go back to our driver from above and play the whole thing out
Driver is pulled over for speeding
Driver does not and has never had a Drivers License or ID card from any state in the union.
But does have an ID from a foreign government.
The Car is not insured
The car is not registered to the driver , the tags are expired however the driver does have the title signed over to him in a private sale by the former owner.
Now is it reasonable for the officer to perhaps suspect that the driver is NOT a legal immigrant?
Since driving with out a License is illegal and an arrest-able offense, the driver could be heading to jail anyways. Searching to find out if the driver has legally immigrated to the US is just extra paperwork for the jail/ officer.
If the officer decides to NOT arrest " just " for the other offenses and researches the driver for legal immigration status if he finds that the driver is legal he lets him go. If not well it's off to jail with an ICE hold.
THIS is how the law will be applied 90%+ of the time in AZ.
Let's get realistic and see that's how this will go down most the time.
