By Alicia Mundy, The Wall Street Journal
In blunt comments during the Sunday talk show fest, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton equated Arizona’s new immigration law with racial profiling. Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” whether she thought the law “invites profiling, racial profiling,” Clinton responded: “I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.”
“Clearly, as I understand the way the law is being explained, if you’re a legal resident, you still have to carry papers,” she said. “Well, how is a law enforcement official supposed to know” whether someone might be an illegal visitor, she asked.
The topic was raised in the context of Mexico’s new travel alert to its residents and citizens, which criticizes the “negative” political environment for immigrants, due to the new law. “It must be assumed that every Mexican citizen may be harassed and questioned without further cause at any time,” Mexico’s foreign ministry warned last week.
Arizona last month enacted a law that makes it a crime to be present in the state without legal immigration status, and authorizes police to question people suspected to be illegal immigrants about their status.
The law has become a lightning rod for immigration advocates, who rallied in cities across the country on Saturday, urging Congress to pass legislation overhauling immigration policy.
Clinton said that although there were legitimate concerns about securing the borders, the state of Arizona didn’t have the authority to usurp federal immigration laws and impose its own.
The new law poses some delicate diplomatic issues for Mexico President Felipe Calderon‘s upcoming state visit with President Barack Obama. The two sides have been working to combat violent drug cartels along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“We don’t want to make his life any harder” Clinton said.
On Sunday, Calderon, visiting Germany, called the Arizona law “racist discrimination” and a “threat” to immigrants and to the whole Hispanic-American population, according to the Associated Press.
