Feature- SB1070

Feature Assignment

 Going to school so close to the Border, you become familiar with stories about things that happen around the border. For example, I constantly run across stories on the internet of their most recent drug bust here on the other side of the border usually in a bordering town of Tucson or Phoenix, Arizona. This is a new experience for me since I did not grow up in Arizona, I am not accustomed to having daily issues regarding gang violence and drug trafficking. Therefore, learning about the effects of SB1070 and how or if it has changed anything with our bordering country of Mexico. With that, I felt that it was necessary to look into the immigration law the State of Arizona passed on April 19, 2010, more than a year after it was passed and how it has affected border patrol. In regards to violence, number of immigrants attempts to cross the border illegally, and whether or not the drug trafficking numbers have dropped with stricter and tighter enforcement going on.

            The title of SB1070 is “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act.” The bill went into effect on July 29, 2010. Before this bill was enacted, law enforcement already had the right to check on the legal status of a person suspected of a crime. Once this bill was passed it made it mandatory for law enforcement to check a person’s legal status. Most people do not realize that before this bill was passed that it was already legal for law enforcement to the check whether a person had legal verification or not. Another part of the bill to take note on is that law enforcement are not required to arrest illegal immigrants. After I read that and understood that this new bill that was being proposed was not creating a new law that could possibly be bordering racial profiling. Nevertheless, this new bill was only strengthening the previous law that was already put into law. With that I found what our President had to say on the issue and his opinion on the matter didn’t surprise me or anyone for that matter. President Obama had this to say about the Senate’s Bill, “it threatens to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and our communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe.”

            After reading and learning about SB 1070 it was very easy to realize that this bill is very complicated. One of the main reasons why it is so complicated is because the initial bill proposed by the State of Arizona had gone through so many different judicial courts that by the time they had come to a decision of what should legally and lawfully be on this senate bill that it was completely reevaluated to the liking of the court. This senate bill made it all the way to Supreme Court to get a ruling on what was and wasn’t acceptable in this act because of the controversy surrounding this act that it became too big of an issue for a state judicial system to have final say on this bill.

            One area where this law is not having a positive effect is there are still dead bodies showing up all along the border. Last year the number of illegal immigrant’s entering into the United States dropped. However, the number of dead bodies showing up along the border increased by a significant amount.

 There are five different sections in this bill. Enforcement of Immigration law, Willful failure to complete or carry an alien registration document, unlawfully picking up passengers for work, unlawful transporting or harboring unlawful aliens, and employer sanctions. A few notable guidelines under these sections; “requires the immigration status to be verified with the federal government for anyone who is arrested.” Along with, “law enforcement cannot consider race, color, or national origin when implementing these provisions, excerpt if it may hinder or obstruct an investigation.” And finally, “requires employers to keep a record of employment verification for the duration of the employee’s employment or three years whichever is longer.” In conclusion, the main guideline that people are taking from this is that law enforcement is required to check the legal status of anyone who is suspected of committing a crime or breaking the law.

            The majority of people who are against this act claim that this senate bill breaks the grounds of racial profiling. The most controversial part of the bill states that “enforcement officers are allowed to stop, detain, or arrest a suspect, if the officer can document “reasonable suspicion” of that person being an “illegal alien”.” The objection is that it is not possible to tell who is an illegal immigrant or not, this nothing but blatant racial profiling aimed at Latinos.

            My uncle, Ben Russell, has been a border patrol agent for just over two years now and I was able to interview him to find out about his life in Border Patrol. My uncle Ben was a big guy before he started his border patrol training. He says he is now currently in “the best shape of my life” He is more a quiet guy if he does not know you very well. Outside of border patrol Ben enjoys riding motorcycles and hanging out on Lake Havasu where his parents currently reside. However, Ben currently works in Calexico, CA. Calexico is just outside of the Imperial Valley in Southern California.

When I asked him about the process of getting into border patrol, I had no idea the scrutiny you have to deal with because of how long the entire process really is. He starts by saying, “While you’re waiting to find out if they are going to accept your application or not they give you a training guide to start following to make sure you’re in shape if you are accepted into the training process. The training academy takes up to almost two years. Once you complete training you then just kind of wait to get a call to tell you where they are stationing you. They let you fill out a form listing the top three places you would like to be. However, they tend to not station you in those areas until your well on in your border patrol career.”

I know Ben, and Calexico was not one of his “top three” choices but he should be pretty happy because that is quite close to where he grew up in Brawley, CA. He is familiar with that area a fair amount and he isn’t in a place where he doesn’t know anyone. However, I have been down to that area because my mom grew up there as well and there is nothing out there so it’s nothing to be excited about it. Since he has only been working for the border patrol for the past two years he has had the opportunity to see what his job was like before this act was put into place and then a year of working under this bill he has seen the differences between the two years. He believes that the law has been beneficial for everyone, yet he goes on to say “whatever we do they are always going to devise different ways and areas to attempt coming across the border.”   

I haven’t had the opportunity to see my Uncle Ben more than once since he joined Border Patrol a couple years ago, so having the opportunity to talk to him I wanted to find out about the day in a life of a Border Patrol agent. The main duty as a Border Patrol agent is to line watch. Line watching involves detecting undocumented aliens and their smugglers by maintaining surveillance from a covert position. They must pursue leads; respond when their sensor alarms are triggered. Something I found interesting was how they do line watching at night. According to my Uncle, “line watching at night is my favorite because you get to use the infrared binoculars to scope the vicinity for aliens attempting to make it across the border.” He went on to say it is more exciting because majority of smugglers are attempting to try and cross the border during the night. Therefore, majority of the action the Border Patrol deals with is coming after the sun goes down.

            I could not imagine actually being a Border Patrol agent, the stories that you hear on television about immigrants trying to come across the border so they can try and start a new life here in the United States and what they will attempt to make sure they have the opportunity to make it across the border. It is jaw dropping. When talking to my Uncle I asked him whether he had any interesting stories about immigrants trying to get across the border. He laughed at me and said “I have more stories in two years than you could imagine.” It seems that it is very popular for pregnant women to cross the border illegally while they are in the final stages of pregnancy because by law, the Border Patrol must call for an ambulance to take this woman to the hospital so she can have her baby. They do this because they are taken to a hospital inside the United States making there just born child a United States citizen. I personally could never imagine experiencing something of that nature. Having to try and help a woman who is in the middle of giving labor while having to detain her. Plus make sure she is safe and well at the same time so nothing harmful happens to the baby. I would imagine that most woman speak little too no English. Adding that on top of everything else seems like an environment you must be mentally prepared for. However, something I noted, when he was talking to me about this he tells the story to me like it was just another day on the job because he has seen it happen so many times.