Roland Leggett, ACLU of Michigan field organizerLast night, the Ann Arbor City Council sent a strong message to legislators across the country by becoming the first Michigan city to go on record opposing Arizona’s anti-immigrant law.
The approved resolution clearly states that racial profiling isn’t true immigration reform and has no place in our state.
Here in Michigan, and across the country, copycat immigration bills have been introduced that, like Arizona’s, have the potential to encourage racial profiling and stretch law enforcement beyond its ability to protect and serve the community. Recently the Department of Justice stepped in filing its own lawsuit against Arizona alongside a host of other civil rights groups, including the ACLU. The administration’s lawsuit is a warning to other states not to follow Arizona’s shameful lead by passing extreme and un-American laws.
There is no doubt, however, that we need immigration reform in this country. We are after all a nation of immigrants and have a responsibility to honor that heritage with fair and comprehensive immigration policies that are guided by our commitment to civil rights. This is a fact that wasn’t lost on Ann Arbor’s city council. According to Ann Arbor.com, during the city council’s deliberation of the immigration resolution, Council Member Tony Derezinski noted that anyone who looks around the council table will see a lot of "curious names" like his own, and Hieftje, Hohnke and Rapundalo. "This is an immigrant nation. We are all immigrants," Derezinski said.
It’s clear that we need immigration reform that isn’t discriminatory and doesn’t encourage the harassment of innocent people. Ann Arbor’s City Council should be commended for its actions in helping to stop anti-immigrant laws from coming to Michigan. However, we all still have a responsibility to ensure racial profiling and intimidation doesn’t replace due process and equality as the laws of the land.
For more information about your rights when encountering law enforcement, immigration agents or the FBI, click here.
To tell Michigan legislators not to support Arizona-like legislation, click here.
Arizona, Missouri, Oklahoma