Boycott Arizona.

• Position: Comment - Jan Brewer signs anti-immigrant bill

The cowardly decision by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer to sign the racist anti-immigrant bill on April 23 cannot be allowed to stand. This isn't America when police can stop you and demand your papers because they have a "suspicion" that you may not be here legally.

The Fourth Amendment prevents this kind of police state behavior. It states that people have a right to be "secure in their persons," and that the state must have a warrant and probable cause to search someone.

But the Constitution doesn't seem to apply in Arizona.

This law empowers local law enforcement to share information about a person who is suspected of being in the U.S. illegally with all levels of government, far and wide. It empowers local law enforcement officers to transport the suspect outside of their jurisdiction. And it lets any local citizen sue the police or local government agencies if that citizen perceives that they are not enforcing federal immigration laws to the fullest extent.

The law also criminalizes almost any kind of aid to someone without proper documentation if the person providing the aid is "in violation of a criminal offense." This may include efforts to transport an undocumented immigrant "if the person knows or recklessly disregards the fact that the alien has come to, has entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law." Providing sanctuary is also verboten: It is forbidden to "attempt to conceal, harbor, or shield an alien from detection in any place in this state, including any building or any means of transportation, if the person knows or recklessly disregards the fact that the alien has come to, has entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law."

The new law goes out of its way to enshrine harassment of poor Latinos in Arizona. It makes it illegal to attempt to hire or pick up day laborers if the driver is impeding the normal flow of traffic, or if the worker getting into the car is impeding traffic.

This outrageous law has fortunately sparked a firestorm of condemnation.

Sheriff Clarence Dupnik of Pima County, Arizona, denounced it as "disgusting," "unwise," "stupid," and "racist."

"Governor Brewer and the Arizona legislature have set Arizona apart in their willingness to sacrifice our liberties and the economy of this state," says Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of the ACLU of Arizona. "By signing this bill into law, Brewer has just authorized violating the rights of millions of people living and...