Arizona law author spars with Schumer

This is the third article on the Arizona law SB1070  this is so you can see how it is going so far. This happened to day! Not a couple of years ago.

Schumer pressed SB 1070 author Russell Pearce about a provision that allows citizens to turn in cops if they don’t appear to be enforcing the immigration law.

“Isn’t that demeaning to police officers?” Schumer asked Pearce. “Won’t that push them to do things to protect themselves from lawsuits that they believe they shouldn’t do?

Pearce defended his law, telling Schumer that it was written with cooperation with law enforcement officials and that particular provision gave cops “the protection they need and the discretion at the same time.”

“I get a little disappointed that we’re the bad guys for enforcing the law,” Pearce, sounding irritated, later told Schumer. “Mr. Chairman, we have a national crisis and we continue to ignore it … I think Americans are a little tired of the drive-by statements from politicians.”

The New York senator also questioned Pearce over a training manual for Arizona police officers that suggested dress would be one of the indications used by law enforcement to determine whether a person was in the country legally.

“What does an illegal immigrant dress like?” Schumer asked Pearce.

In response, Pearce said that manual was developed in conjunction with federal immigration officials.

At one point, Pearce criticized Schumer for arguing that SB 1070 could lead to racial profiling by police officers. The law, Pearce said, explicitly bars profiling.

“I think it’s demeaning to law enforcement to assume they don’t know how to do their job,” Pearce told Schumer.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) also traded jabs with Pearce over the DREAM Act, which would offer minors who meet certain requirements a pathway to citizenship.

“All of us have a heart and all of us have compassion,” Pearce said, calling the bill “blanket amnesty.” “But laws without consequences are no laws at all.”

Durbin responded: “Mr. Pearce, the DREAM Act is not a blanket amnesty.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/75533.html#ixzz1sypIQvvS