Phil Gordon: Foe to Undocumented Immigrants

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon is at it again, trying to make himself out to be the good guy opposing SB 1070. He tried to get the city council to oppose the law and bring a lawsuit against it, but failed. He spoke at one of the big rallies at the capitol talking about how unconstitutional it is.

It was about two years ago that I was involved in strategizing about how to oppose Phil Gordon's idea to change the immigration policy of the Phoenix Police Department. He initiated a change to Operations Order 1.4.3 which had previously not allowed police to ask about immigration status for serious crimes, but now allows the Phoenix PD to ask anyone arrested. Those stopped for traffic violations would normally not be arrested, and therefore were not asked about status.

Although this change in policy, again, initiated by Gordon, led to an increased number of undocumented immigrants arrested, the Mayor was able to justify to himself that this was okay because he wasn't as bad as Arpaio, whose officers were asking about immigration status to anyone they stopped--mostly for traffic violations, some of which were bogus.

SB1070 is different enough from Operations Order 1.4.3, but isn't really all that much worse, especially considering that Pearce claimed that the current policy meant Phoenix was a sanctuary city and that he needed to "take the handcuffs off the police".

Arizona is not a state seething with hatred, eager to trample the civil rights of its citizens in haphazard pursuit of illegal immigrants. Nor are most Arizonans bigots anxious to drag our state back to the 1980s, when Gov. Evan Mecham’s absurd behavior made our home a national laughingstock.

Instead, our state, which has become Ground Zero on illegal immigration because of years of lapsed federal border security, is frustrated...

...that we cannot rule with a velvet glove, seemingly fair but hiding the injustices brought against people everyday in the form of police brutality, bad working conditions, etc. When bills like this pass with such blatant hatred and targeting of people most do not agree are criminals, it makes it harder for us to keep the people blind and in line.

This is the kind of thing that these democrats do. The Phoenix Police department has arrested more undocumented immigrants than Arpaio has, yet because of the Mayor's vocal opposition to the extreme actions and publicity show that Arpaio (and now SB1070) are involved in, he makes himself out to be the good guy.

Let us not be blind to the fact that not only did he initiate the change to Operations Order 1.4.3, he's not exactly being a hypocrite. He is not advocating for the rights of undocumented immigrants. He is only opposing racial profiling (and hate). As discussed in Racial Profiling Focus is Still a Distraction this creates a hierarchy of importance with citizens being more important, and undocumented immigrants not being important. Racial profiling is a legal term which cannot address the unjust situation of the "illegal" person. Therefore, Phil Gordon is a foe, not a friend, of undocumented immigrants.

See also: Mayor Gordon Criticizes Anti-Immigrant Racists and Phoenix Mayor Supports Change In Phx PD Immigration Policy