Devil is in the definitions

Sat., July 10, 2010

I’m not in favor of Arizona’s new illegal alien law, but I think that your quote of the relevant passage from the Arizona law proves Jack L. Thompson’s (July 3) point about the limits of the law.

The first four words, “For any lawful contact …,” indicates that you have to have a lawful reason for contacting a person – driving violation, jaywalking, littering, whatever. Then “wherever reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully …” is the sticky part. Should clothing, accent, physical appearance or nervousness be a reasonable suspicion during a stop when it isn’t without a lawful stop? It’s a lousy situation for everyone because “reasonable” is very subjective and open to broad interpretation.

Florence Young

Spokane

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