The phoenix p.d. recently announced their change to the policy that formerly required officers to not ask about immigration status. They will now be asking all people who have committed crimes. You can listen to KJZZ's Here and Now which i just did to get some clarification on the change. It sounds similar to what Scottsdale announced in late december that they were going to do. My concern with that is that supposedly the burden of proof is going to be on the people who have been arrested as far as their citizenship. This can cause some major problems. To what extent will we be able to remain silent?
Consistantly it is said that the mayor decided to support a change in policy because of all the increased anti-immigrant sentiment. But yet, i still haven't heard anyone question why that is a legitimate justification!
I think it is positive that victims and eye witnesses of crimes will not be questioned. What i find interesting, is that the police officer who was interviewed on the show (and what is said in this article) is saying there is not much difference between what they were doing, and what they will be able to do. Which leads me to wonder whether this change and all the press it's getting serves more to increase fear in undocumented immigrants.
