Unreasonable suspicion in Arizona

I have a reasonable suspicion that per Arizona's new SB 1070 police will unreasonably suspect many Latinos living in Arizona of being undocumented.  I believe my suspicion is reasonable because legally, to reasonably suspect someone of being undocumented requires articulable facts that cannot be based upon color of skin, race, ethnicity, or language spoken. 

This leaves us primarily with dress code and mannerisms as the only articulable ways to identify a person's legal status in this country.  When Arizona's police are trained (at taxpayers' expense) to determine that a hat, a belt, shoes, the use of hands in speech, etc. amount to undocumented status, we are clearly going down a path that casts a wide net of cultural customs that will include many US citizens. 

When I worked at Catholic Charities in the early 1990s, indiscriminate Border Patrol sweeps were a common occurrence at Story and King Roads.  After a young legal male Mexican wearing a distinctive hat from the State of Michoacan was unlawfully arrested in a sweep, I recommended that he carry a tennis racket to break the stereotype.  It worked-he never had a problem with his civil liberties again. 

Millions of persons of Latino descent in Arizona had better start carrying tennis rackets.   

Richard Hobbs, Esq.
San Jose