'Draconian' Arizona law will cause civil rights violations: Hume

Brit Hume of Fox News says the "draconian" new Arizona immigration law will be unpopular and predicts it will lead to civil rights violations. But he also thinks it was reasonable for Arizona to pass what he called "emergency policy."

The law will allow police to demand proof of residency if they have "reasonable suspicion" that a person is not in the country legally.

"I think it's going to be quite a trick to train the police officers in that state so that they can carry out this mandate to check anybody who they have a reasonable suspicion of being in the country illegal, without engaging in profiling or violating their civil rights," Hume told Chris Wallace Sunday. "I think that's going to be very difficult to do. I think there probably, and inevitably will be, some civil rights violations."

He thinks it is unclear if it will stand up to a court challenge, but despite the opposition it has already faced Hume thinks civil rights violations are an acceptable trade-off because he is scared of illegal immigrants.

"The question really though is, that seems to me, did Arizona act reasonably here under the circumstances by passing this somewhat draconian law? And the answer I think, may well be yes, because they are facing a serious crisis down there induced by the presence in their midst of a lot of illegals, some of whom are causing terrible problems," said Hume.

According to Fox News, the law makes it a state crime to be in the US illegally, legal immigrants must carry identification, police must check for documents with "reasonable suspicion" and citizens can sue local governments for not enforcing it.

Judge Andrew Nopalitano says the bill will bankrupt the state of Arizona and Hispanics will flee the Republican party in droves. He expects a federal judge to stop it as soon as it is used to stop someone.

President Obama called it "misguided." And Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) was given an anonymous bomb threat for stating he opposed the law.

This video is from Fox's Fox News Sunday, broadcast April 25, 2010.

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