It has become fashionable to bash Arizona’s SB1070 law among those who seek to profit by promoting racial and ethnic discord. But it is hard to imagine a sitting president of the United States stooping down to that level. Yet, that is what President Obama did during the October 16th debate. In that debate, about 1 hour, 1 minute and 17 seconds into the debate, he said the following:

“He called the Arizona law a model for the nation. Part of the Arizona law said that law enforcement officers can stop folks because they suspect that maybe they look like they might be undocumented workers, and check their papers. You know what, if my daughter, or yours, looks to somebody like they are not citizens, I don’t want to empower someone like that.”

But Arizona’s SB1070 calls for just the opposite. Section 2-b reads, in part, as follows:

“A law enforcement official or agency of this state or a county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state may not solely consider race, color or national origin in implementing the requirements of this subsection except to the extent permitted by the United States or Arizona constitution.”

It is hard to imagine that the president was not aware of such a key provision of our law, especially considering that his administration opposed it all the way to the Supreme Court, where it was upheld.

The president owes an apology to the people of Arizona for having made such a gross mischaracterization during a nationally televised debate.

Arizona Latino Republican Association (ALRA)
Jose Borrajero, Communications Director