Arizona Immigration Law and Illegal Immigrants: State of Extremes

Mr. Pearce, a fifth-generation Arizonan, is the state senator who introduced the toughest illegal-immigration bill in the nation. The immigration law is so controversial that the nation is asking: What's the matter with Arizona?

" 'Illegal' is not a race," Pearce says. "It is a crime."

Mr. Escobar, born in Mexico and raised in Arizona, is a Tucson police officer who opposes the new law that gives cops broader powers to crack down on illegal immigrants. He is taking the battle to the courts.

"When I saw the law and I read it, I actually never imagined it would get signed," he says. "I saw it as a personal attack on the Hispanic community."

Senate Bill 1070, which takes effect in July, is a historical marker in this ever-changing, ever-growing state of extremes.

You don't like the bill? A lot of Arizonans don't care. Polls show widespread support for it.

The state where lawmen Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday mowed down outlaws at the O.K. Corral now brings its modern brand of western justice to illegal immigration: attrition through enforcement.

After any lawful stop, police can "determine the immigration status" of those they suspect of being in the country illegally.

My opinion on the story

Well me personally I think that this is going to open up for racial profiling. This could lead to police discriminating on people based on their color. Such discrimination could lead to violence to police and people. This bill is not a solution to immigration and will just cause violence to all kinds of people that live in this country.