Anticipating the Consequences of Arizona’s SB 1070: A Comparative Perspective from Germany, where Racial Profiling is Business as Usual – Susann Huschke

Susann Huschke
Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

In recent weeks I have followed the public debate on Arizona’s new immigration law, and I have been delighted to see that in the United States this kind of law at least provokes public anger and protest as well as political discussion. Will a law that allows police officers to demand documents from anyone (i.e. people whom they suspect, for whatever reason, to be illegal immigrants) lead to racial profiling? According to Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona, no it won’t. Yet empirical evidence from Germany, where a similar law has been in place for over a decade, suggests a different answer: Yes, it will.