Francis Pauc: Do I look Illegal?

State Representative Donald Pridemore ( R-Hartford ) has introduced legislation concerning immigration policy. His bill is modeled after the Arizona's law SB1070. Having read the draft of the legislation, I believe that it solves no problems, although it probably creates new ones.

There is a portion of Rep. Pridemore's bill that specifically refers to sanctuary cities, where a community has a law that essentially protects illegal aliens residing there. This portion of the bill is redundant at best. Sanctuary cities may hold the moral high ground in the immigration debate, but their local ordinances often contradict state and federal laws. Federal and state statutes will trump the local laws every time, so when Rep. Pridemore writes a bill that specifically requires that these local ordinances be nullified, he is just stating the obvious.

More troubling in Rep. Pridemore's bill is the requirement allowing police to stop and question anybody when they have a reasonable suspicion that the person is in this country illegally. First of all, there is the question of how we define "reasonable suspicion". Is it all up to the judgment of the individual police officer? Are there any specific guidelines for the police to follow? The proposed law seems very ambiguous on this point.

Let's look at a possible scenario. My wife, Karin, is a German citizen, residing here on a green card. She's been here since 1985. Let's say that she gets pulled over by a cop for speeding ( This has happened in the past. You can take the woman off the autobahn, but you can't take the autobahn out of the woman). Under the proposed law, the police officer might notice that my wife has a German accent and ask for proof that she is residing in the U.S. legally. According to the proposed legislation, my wife would then have to immediately produce her green card, or risk going to jail for up to 48 hours.

So, if my wife forgets her green card at home ( which has also happened in the past ), she could do jail time until she produces the necessary proof of legal residency. Now, am I being paranoid about all of this? Perhaps. Is it realistic that a police officer in Wisconsin would ask a nice German lady for her papers? Probably not. But what if my wife was a Latina, and had a thick Spanish accent? Or what if my wife looked like she was from the Middle East? This is a law just begging to be abused.

Lets take this just one step further. Even though I was born in Milwaukee, there are those who are convinced that I have no business being in this country. What if a cop asks me for proof of citizenship? I don't carry around a passport or my birth certificate. How would I prove that I have a legal right to be here? Yes, that scenario seems farfetched, but is it possible? Yes, it is.

Rep. Pridemore's proposed law is a bad law. Clearly the problem of immigration to the U.S. needs to be addressed, but this is not the way to do it.

Frank Pauc is a WNPJ member from Oak Creek, Wisconsin.