My understanding is that this would only be if the person was aprehended on suspicion of some other crime. (obviously could be abused, but so could virtually any other law)
Interesting to note, BTW, that in testimony before congress Eric Holder - who has said he thinks the law might be unconstitutional or something - says he hasn't actually read it. ( It is after all 11 pages and he's very busy protecting the rights of word-he-is-incapable-of-saying extremists <s> )
>My guess is the radio report was referring to a new law in Arizona that allows the police to ask for proof of citizenship or documented alien status. It is very controversial here.
>
>>My son heard on the radio that in the United States they want to declare it a criminal act, for an alien to be in the United States without documentation, or something of the sort. He asked: "Wasn't it a criminal act, already?" To the best of my knowledge, I answered that I assume that aliens can be thrown out of the country for being there without a permit, but that they can't be otherwise prosecuted and thrown into prison. Is the news he heard correct? Is this my understanding of the situation correct?
>>
>>My son heard this news in Spanish; would the word "felony" be used in English?
>>
>>TIA,
>>
>>Hilmar.
Charles Hankey
Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.
- Thomas Hardy
Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm-- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.
-- T. S. Eliot
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.
- Ben Franklin
Pardon him, Theodotus. He is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.
