As I write this, senators in Judiciary Committee A are meeting to discuss potential immigration legislation. Through personal and newspaper reports, I've heard that some of the legislators want to bring a law to Mississippi very similar to Arizona's controversial SB1070.  It would require every police officer to ask people for their papers based only on some undefined "reasonable suspicion" that they are in the country unlawfully. To avoid arrest, citizens and non-citizens will effectively have to carry their "papers" at all times.

Fortunately, many ACLU-MS members have sent an email to members of Judiciary Committee A, telling them not to import Arizona's bad law to Mississippi.

Throughout today and tomorrow, others will also be conveying their concerns to the committee. The ACLU of Mississippi's Executive Director, Nsombi Lambright, will be speaking Wednesday. Her remarks are certain to be compelling. As an African-American woman who's family has lived in Mississippi since slavery, and as a daughter whose mother was active in the Civil Rights Movement, Nsombi knows well the grim consequences of racial profiling.

By the way, you can stay up to date on these hearings--and any future legislation, on this page of our website: /home/noracialprofiling.htm