Letters to the Editor
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The thing that worries me about this
is the language " if the officer seeking such information has probable cause to believe that the individual is not lawfully present in the United States." Because for many people, the fact that someone has a dark tan or an accent constitutes "probable cause." What would legitimately give you "probable cause" to think someone is "not lawfully present" in the U.S.? That she didn't have a Green Card tattooed on her forehead?
While I can see the inherent 'justice' of this law on principle - i.e., if it comes to a police officer's attention that someone is doing something illegal, they are generally obliged to do something about it - in practice, it is terribly unjust. This is like imprisoning addicts instead of rich kingpins. When are we going to start holding employers of illegal immigrants responsible and start forcing them to help solve the immigration problem? No, not gonna happen, because the rich and powerful benefit too much from having a labor force with no rights. So we play good cop/bad cop with the workers' lives. It is just sick.