Amid protests, Kobach pushes immigration laws | Wichita Eagle.
There are many similar instances of Mr. Kobach insisting that “Reasonable Suspicion” is a viable legal standard that will not encourage racial profiling. Very recently, February 16 in fact, he stated that reasonable suspicion can include a lot of things.
“Kobach said that could include someone acting evasive when a police officer asks for identification, if someone is driving on a known smuggling corridor, or even evidence of dust and sand that could come from a long journey across the desert.”
REALLY??? Driving on a known smuggling Corridor (i.e., I-70 or I-35) or evidence of dust on their clothing that could have come from a long journey across the desert???????? I cannot believe how stupid this argument is. Dust and sand are also evidence of working in construction, on a farm, with sheetrock, on a roof, in a dirty basement…but is very unlikely that it is because the person walked across the desert to get to the US and then never bothered to shower before arriving to Kansas. As if people just start walking in Cuidad Juarez and don’t stop until they reach their destination (Arizona or Kansas City or Minnesota apparently Kobach thinks that there would be opportunity to wash the dust off of themselves prior to their encounter with the police.)
Other evidence of reasonable suspicion I have heard is people acting evasive, not speaking English, or speaking broken English, driving in a crowded car or a car that is riding heavy, or if the car is old or looks like it has been on a long journey…wow.
How can anyone say with a straight face that this is not racial profiling. This is racist and a thinly veiled attempt to target poor, brown people. Like it or not, there is still racism and we as a society should adamantly oppose any law that institutionalizes and legitimizes the practice of stopping someone because they are brown, or have several people in the car, or are…god forbid dusty.
Incidentally, the police chiefs of most major cities are against this kind of thing because it amounts to an unfunded mandate that places an inordinate amount of financial strain on local police. It costs money to house immigration detainees, millions of dollars a year in a city of any size. This is money that most cities, in our times of budget shortfalls, do not have and if they do have it, wouldn’t that money be better spent on community issues(more cops or fire, fixing streets, schools). Kobach does not think so.
In his term as Secretary of State, a job that does not include anything having to do with immigration, he has spent very little time doing the SoS business or readying the state for the huge expenditure that his pet project, voter ids, will cost. That law went into effect on Jan 1, 2012, but no DMV or Election headquarter is able to make the the “free ids” that were promised in the bill so as not to disenfranchise low income voters. No one has been trained, there is no equipment, no one is sure how to do it. Similarly, you apparently need a birth certificate to get one of these ids and those, too were suppose to be free. Well that law, making them free, does not go into effect until 2013. Very convenient. Yet he has had time to give over 70 press conferences and interviews about immigration, attend many senate hearings to testify in favor of his pet bills styled after Arizona and Alabama and of course, bill hundreds of hours to OTHER cities and states defending them in their costly litigation over his anti immigration bills.
He is a crazy person and a racist. Period. And he is irresponsible with the taxpayer’s money and is ignoring his SoS job in Kansas in favor of making himself more famous. Vilest form of politician. Nothing but an opportunistic megalomaniac who cares only about doing what it takes to make him more political powerful.