Last night, the Hamtramck City Council passed by a 5-1 margin an Anti-Profiling Ordinance, which bars city employees and law enforcement officers from inquiring about a person’s citizenship status based upon their race, ethnicity or religious/ethnic attire.
The exceptations are if a person is being investigated for a criminal offense or arrested for a non-civil infraction.
As I stated to the Hamtramck City Council last night, how does a person look that is not a citizen or legal resident? Does he look Latino? Does he have dark skin? Does he wear a beard and prayer cap? Does she wear hijab?
The answer to the rhetorical question is that there is no way to just look at a person and tell their citizenship status. Profiling based soley upon physical appearance while searching for random violations always infringes upon the rights of citizens, who are normally minorities.
The whole DWB (Driving While Black) issue for Black males in certain neighborhoods is a classic example. I personally loathe driving in Warren, Michigan for this very reason!
Bravo to the Hamtramck City Council regarding this step to make the city even more welcoming and inclusive!
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http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/michigan/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1216057
ANN ARBOR, MICH. (2008-01-23) Hamtramck is the second city in Michigan to limit city employees and police from asking people about their immigration status.
The measure is similar to one passed in Detroit last year. It prohibits profiling people based on their race, immigration status, and other factors.
Dawud Walid heads the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. He says some immigrants don’t cooperate with police investigations, or participate in things like public health campaigns “because they’re fearful that they will be asked to produce [evidence of] their citizenship.”“And it’s not just from people who may not be in legal status or undocumented,” says Walid, “but even a fear of being harassed by people who are legal permanent residents.”(MORE)
Click below to listen to audio of the full story: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/michigan/news.mediaplayer?STATION_NAME=michigan&MEDIA_ID=669029&MEDIA_EXTENSION=mp3&MODULE=news
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http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/index.php?mod=article&cat=Community&article=595
Hamtramck passes ordinance against profiling
The Hamtramck City Council passed an ordinance Tuesday prohibiting city employees from policing or denying services to people based on their appearance, immigration status or other factors.
The ordinance, which passed five to one, allows undocumented immigrants to report crimes and seek city services without the fear of inquiries about their immigration status.
It also bans other forms of discrimination or profiling based on appearance, ethnicity, gender, manner of dress, national origin, physical characteristics, race, religious beliefs or sexual orientation.
Allen said that a similar measure passed in Detroit last year has not caused any problems for police, as exceptions have been specifically outlined to allow inquiries on immigration status and physical descriptions for the purposes of conducting criminal investigations.
Several civil rights activists and Hamtramck residents attended Tuesday’s city council meeting to support the ordinance, celebrating its passage after weeks of anticipation.
“It’s a win for the community,” said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). “And not just for residents of Hamtramck, but for people who work in the city, who drive through Hamtramck.”(MORE)
