The Arizona law about immigration status… critics say that the police will target people for speaking Spanish…. Let’s work through this a bit… I think a more accurate description is a police office will suspect a person who is unable to speak English
To become a US citizen via naturalization, you have to demostrate you can speak and understand English. There might be a few rare people who are US Citizens due to their parents being citizens, but they were raised in some other country (Kenya, for instance), but for the most part US Citizens do speak English (Puerto Rico I’m not so sure about)…
Because Mexico is part of NAFTA, Mexicans have looser restrictions on coming into the U.S. – they can be issued a Border Crossing Card – a document good for 10 years that is given to people for casual business reasons (attending meetings, visiting plants, etc…) or people coming for medical treatment, vacations, etc… (but not to work in the U.S.)
Another group is NAFTA Professional workers – there are a limited number of slots for people from Mexico, Canada and the U.S. to work in the other country without the expectation they are intending to become permanent citizens
Other visitors from Mexico have to apply for a visa for their visit. In all three cases, the person has a document issued to them to say they are allowed to be in the United States
Other than Mexicans (OTMs) are not part of NAFTA and as such are required to have a visa saying why they want to come to the U.S. and a passport issued by their country.
Another group of countries (mostly in Europe) which are not perceived as being a threat (including Spain) can come to the United States for up to 90 days without a visa, but they would of course have their passport.
So if you see a person speaking Spanish, and they can’t produce a visa, a passport or a US Driver’s license, is that adequate probable cause to take them into custody? If a person is fluent in English, does that mean they should still be asked for documents or is it enough for the police officers instincts about whether the person “seems” like an American? If you ask them how many states there are in the United States and they answer 57, do you ask to see their birth certificate?
