As state Representative Daryl Metcalfe announces his intention to introduce anti-immigrant legislation modeled on the law recently enacted in Arizona, the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition calls on legislators to reject racial profiling and misguided enforcement measures that damage community –police relationships in Pennsylvania.

“Law enforcement officers have scarce resources to engage in their primary mission, to protect all of our communities,” said Regan Cooper, Executive Director of PICC. “Police have worked hard to establish trust with immigrant communities so that victims and witnesses will come forward to report crime. Policies like Arizona’s destroy that trust, make communities a target for crime, and leave truly dangerous criminals on the streets – making all of us less safe.”

Arizona’s law requires law enforcement to stop and question individuals about immigration status, and includes a provision that opens local and state agencies to lawsuits from individuals that think the law is not being enforced rigorously enough. The law has drawn public condemnation from a wide range of elected officials and members of law enforcement. Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the ACLU of Arizona, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and National Immigration Law Center, announced that they will file a legal challenge.

“Immigration laws are determined at the federal level,” said Cooper. “Until we enact workable solutions there, local communities will continue to struggle with the impact of our broken system instead of moving forward together to rebuild our economy and secure our future.”

500,000 people gathered across the country this past weekend to protest Arizona’s new racial profiling law and to call for comprehensive immigration reform. In Pennsylvania, events were held in Allentown, Kennett Square, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Cooper noted that Senate leadership outlined a detailed framework for immigration reform last week, but a bill has yet to be introduced in the Senate.

“Pennsylvania and America can do better,” said Cooper. “Policies that encourage racial profiling and create fear of police turn back the clock on the advances of the civil rights struggle and are counter to our values as Americans.”

Other anti-immigrant legislation is on the state House calendar. House Bills 1502 and 1503 would require state contractors and all construction employers to use the federal E-Verify program, an online database program that attempts to verify the work-eligibility of employees. The system is known for its high error rate, which disproportionately rejects legal, work authorized residents and naturalized citizens. A recent analysis found that E-Verify also fails to detect unauthorized workers. The program imposes significant compliance expenses on business, especially small businesses, which are a driving force in our economy.