Arizona’s new anti-immigration law reignites decade-old fears of racial profiling

Arizonans approved a proposition this month that expands police powers over any person they suspect entered the country unlawfully. The new law shares a striking resemblance to a similar measure enacted by voters over a decade ago; a time many remember riddled with fear and uncertainty.

Proposition 314, which Arizona voters approved overwhelmingly, empowers state judges to order deportation, creates stricter requirements and penalties for businesses that employ immigrants, and sets harsher penalties against anyone convicted of knowingly selling fentanyl that causes deaths.

It has frequently been compared to SB1070, the “show me your papers” law passed in 2010. This law, most of which was later found to be unconstitutional, allowed police to demand “papers” and investigate immigration status if they suspect a person is undocumented, which led to widespread racial profiling.

Reyna Montoya, founder and CEO of Aliento, is reminded of this era of Arizona, when former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio conducted mass roundups of undocumented immigrants in the state.

Montoya founded Aliento to be a youth-led organization that serves undocumented, DACA, and mixed immigration status families with mental health resources, career and education development, and community. As someone who was brought to the US as a child and was undocumented for much of her youth, the cause is personal for her, and Montoya remembers the Arpaio “show me your papers”  time in Arizona’s not-so-distant past vividly.

Monserrat Arredondo (left) and Reyna Montoya (center) lead protest songs in front of Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-OH, during a march by the Fair Immigration Reform Movement in Washington, D.C., Thursday, November 14, 2013. (J.M. Eddins Jr./Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

She now has protected status as part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA was created in 2012 by former President Barack Obama as a way to protect migrants from deportation if they were brought to the US as children. The program currently protects over 20,000 individuals in Arizona and over 500,000 US residents nationwide, according to the latest data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

SB1070 went into effect two years before DACA was established, leaving Montoya and both of her parents —all undocumented—with little hope. They would receive text alerts telling them if Sheriff Arpaio or other law enforcement was going to be in a certain area that they would then avoid.

“I was a college student, and my mom would not let me go to the movies with my friends, because she was afraid that we were going to get deported,” Montoya said.

Montoya bought her younger brother a flip phone and told him to memorize the phone numbers of loved ones, “just in case.”

“If we would get a text alert, we wouldn’t go and do grocery shopping, or sometimes we [would] try to avoid even going to church, because we were afraid that us going to church or us going to buy food could potentially lead to a family separation,” Montoya said.

In 2013, Arpaio was found to have used SB1070 to racially profile and target Latinos on immigration sweeps and traffic stops.

Over a decade later, the DACA recipient and her parents—now legal permanent residents—still carry that anxiety with them. “It’s definitely something that is very present in my life,” she said.

Real-life implications

The uncertainty SB 1070 brought to Montoya and her family’s lives offers a glimpse of what Prop 314 could bring. Although it could take years for the measure to go into effect, merely having it on the books could create a chilling effect throughout Arizona’s immigrant community.

Montoya offered one example: an undocumented mother might go to the hospital because her US-born child is sick, and will be asked for her social security number on paperwork. Her options are to leave and put her child’s health at risk, or give the hospital fake information, a felony that could result in deportation.

Now, families will be forced to make difficult decisions like this, Montoya warned; to get medical care for children who have birthright citizenship and a right to healthcare, but by doing so put themselves at risk of a felony conviction and possibly deportation.

After the proposition passed, Montoya has been checking in on the students Aliento works with — many of them are facing bullying at school, receiving comments like, “are you ready to get deported,” she said.

“Our first priority [is] to take care of the human spirit and then to educate people,” Montoya said. While the proposition is in legal limbo, Aliento is focusing on informing the community about their rights, she said.

Arizona Sen. John Kavanaugh, R-Fountain Hills, one of the draftees of the bill that eventually became Prop 314, has said that the proposition wouldn’t affect any undocumented people in Maricopa County – or anywhere outside of border towns and cities.

But the language of the proposition doesn’t include any geographical restrictions— and in fact, gives local law enforcement statewide a mandate to enforce it. Without any restrictions on who can enforce the new law or guidelines on how to do so, Montoya sees Prop 314 as a vehicle for law enforcement to racially profile not only undocumented people, but also US citizens.

Even with this bleak outlook, the best way to move forward is to find solidarity in the community, Montoya said.

“To our undocumented community, especially our dreamers and our children of immigrants and their families, remember that you’re not alone, that right now it might feel really, really heavy to see the outcome of the election, but know that there were also a lot of people that stood with you in solidarity,” Montoya said. “So let’s not only focus on the people that came out and voted against our community, but also let’s focus on the people that showed up for us.”