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Shoot, this has been going on for 50 years at the Canadian border. I remember as a kid going through immigration roadblocks on the roads and highways up near the border in Vermont and upstate NY. No one seemed to complain about it then...

The idiocy of this situation reveals how badly the left has corrupted thinking and language in our society -and don't kid yourself, they've done it on purpose to aggrandize their own power. In no particular order:

1. Police can ask you to identify yourself and anyone else they please if they have "reasonable suspicion" a crime may have occurred or if you are driving a motor vehicle. In either event, you don't have to comply. In most states the failure to produce ID while driving will result in an arrest (based on that states penal code).

2. Reasonable suspicion is a low threshold. Court have upheld that things like the way a person reacts to being approached by the police may be enough. In NYC "stop and frisk" laws have been upheld by SCOTUS, and they essentially use profiling to justify it. Reasonable suspicion is much less concrete than say what is required for a search or search warrant (probable cause). The hysterical idiocy here is that a cop is not allowed to use the fact that a person looks foreign and or doesn't speak English well to justify "reasonable suspicion". I mean, if you can't use the fact that the person doesn't match the physical characteristics of native citizens to just ask a question, what can they do? The opposing argument also misses that the burden is very low. Producing ID isn't incarceration, it isn't collecting evidence, it's something that we are asked to do in our daily lives all the time. Reasonable suspicion also considers context in the sense that a guy on a ragged Harley is more likely to be part of a biker gang than the man driving down the street in his Ford Escort, if he's looking for a biker.

3. Ultimately, what we are doing here is codifying common sense. Law enforcement must be judicious but it only hurts us to try and stipulate every action a cop can take when investigating a crime in non-harmful ways like this. Government has run amok in this regard in the past 50 years, so in a way, this can also be seen as the encroachment of the bureaucracy on police officers trying to protect us.

The real issue here is that the folks who oppose Arizona want open borders, or at least special immigration privilege for Mexican and other foreign nationals. They cannot accomplish what they seek via our legislature so they attempt to do so via courts and administrative decisions. The opponents of enforcing immigration are willing to throw the rule of law and any concern that other constituencies might have out the window in he pursuit of their political goals. The left has made the acquisition of power and the exercise of it their sine qua non, and will violate any principle to do so. It's sickening to those of us who hold to such ideas as the rule of law and the responsibility of the executive to enforce the laws on the books seriously.

I did not vote on this issue because, as a retired PO I know that the police will react to policies and procedures set up by the political powers that be. As an example, if "calls for service" are driven by illegals then the officer is more likely to act but if that is not an issue in his/her junisdiction then the officer probably will not act.

Is there any country in this world that do not allow the police to check ID of citizens and the answer is yes. Guess which one that is. USA. This country is lawless at present. The greatest nation on earth and it cannot protect it's border and allow the illegals to come and siphon off the benefit of the citizens. They are allowed to have louder voice then the citizens. And this is only because of the politicians who wants to cater to these special interest groups. We need a strong commander who will be willing to deport all the illegals according to our existing immigration law. Immigration law is not working from the illegals point of view but for the citizens of this country and the legal immigrants the existing law works fine. The politicians needs to listen to the citizens of this country not the illegals. Any politicians who are afraid of illegals and the Hispanic power needs to be voted down. Hispanics do not have any right to ask for exemption for their illegals for that is being racist and is asking to break the existing law.

Most certainly ... this is nothing in other countries I've worked. Police always checked everyone's papers / passports / registration documents, etc. No one ever complained ... guess just illegals have a problem with this practice (those living off the tax dollars payed for by everyone else). My grandparents and great grandparents came through Ellis Island and Philadelphia before setting foot in the US, and didn't find it offensive or restrictive (especially after spending weeks below deck of an ocean carrier).

This country needs to start enforcing it's immigration laws and policies ... and there needs to be policies put in place to insure most working and benefiting society are given the chance for citizenship (especially those wishing to serve in the US armed forces).

as a Green Card holder you MUST all time have your Green Card with you (Federal Law).