SB1070 Spreading: Florida Immigration Bill Would Give Canadians And Europeans A Pass On Proving Citizenship

With the mid terms getting closer, SB1070 continues to be used by conservative candidates as rallying cry to their base.

A Florida state representative has drafted an SB1070 like law with a unique provision: If you are European or Canadian, you do not need to prove you are in the country legally, beyond showing your passport.

Tim Elfrink of the Miami New Times has more here, interestingly enough the author of the legislation swears that the law wont lead to racial profiling:

Florida state Rep. William Snyder, the slow-drawling ex-Miami-Dade Police officer who has drafted Tallahassee's version of the hotly debated Arizona immigration bill, is adamant that his law would not lead to racial profiling.
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"Race, ethnicity, and national origin cannot be used in making arrests. It's immoral, illegal, and unconstitutional," he said in a recent radio interview.

However if you happen to be white, then the law does not necessarily apply to you:

So why does his bill explicitly offer a free pass to Canadians and Western Europeans, who need only show a passport to be "presumed to be legally in the United States"?

"That language makes it clear that police are targeting only a specific minority," says Susana Barciela, policy director at the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center.

The language of the bill is pretty explicit on who should and should not be stopped:

What few observers seem to have noticed, though, is a bizarre clause Snyder included on page 3. Even if an officer has "reasonable suspicions" over a person's immigration status, the bill says, a person will be "presumed to be legally in the United States" if he or she provides "a Canadian passport" or a passport from any "visa waiver country."

What are the visa waiver countries? Other than four Asian nations, all 36 are in Western Europe, from France to Germany to Luxembourg.

In other words, Snyder's bill tells police to drop their "reasonable suspicions" of anyone hailing from dozens of countries full of white people. How is that not racial profiling?

Not surprisingly GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Rick Scott has vowed to pass the law if he is elected governor:

Snyder drafted his homage in August, and Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott last week pledged to support the bill if elected.