VivirLatino

Community members and clergy in Maricopa County, Arizona are calling for a stop to an initiative by the Sheriff to offer hotlines for reporting undocumented immigrants to authorities:

The hotline, they say, perpetuates a climate of fear within the immigrant community, raises the chance of racial profiling and opens the possibility for people to take revenge on former friends and family.

“What right does he have to investigate people based on the color of their skin, or their accent or the way they look,” said Phoenix attorney Antonio Bustamante. “I want him to stop this nonsense and enforce criminal law instead of going after landscapers and nannies. He needs to stop this hotline.”

Latino leaders are calling the hotlines unconstitutional but the Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, isn’t backing down — not by a long shot. According to the Arizona Republic, he’s even trapping undocumented immigrants as they visit their family members in the county jail: “Once they come in, we’re going to have to arrest them and turn them over to ICE.”

So much for love thy neighbor.

Via / Arizona Republic