6 major reasons the Arizona law is unsound

Problems with the controversial Arizona law:

1) A subset of US Citizens are effectively being forced to carry ID, or else they can be arrested at any time.

• Those with lily white skin are unlikely to ever be asked.  That's a discriminatory double-standard. It's essentially no different from Blacks having to ride on the back of the bus, "Whites Only" drinking fountains, or Gays not being allowed to marry or serve in the military. All of those things are wrong, plain and simple.
•  Certain individuals are likely to be targeted again and again.  That's harassment, regardless of whether it's for racial reasons. That they're being targeted because of an accent, skin color, or because they drive a mexican-made vehicle makes it worse, but is also sort of beside the point. Humans have a right to live life free from harassment, and to pursue happiness without undue interference.

2) US Citizens and Legal Resident Aliens now have disrupted access to emergency health services.

• Walk around any Emergency Room - you'll see there's almost always cops there. Those cops now have an obligation to card people. Think of a time when you were scared about the fate of a loved one. Now imagine a cop demanding to see your paperwork in the middle of that. It'd be pretty ugly.
• If a Hispanic is at home and their child drinks drano or falls down the stairs, they now have to remember to grab their ID before they rush them to the hospital. If your kids life is on the line, you shouldn't have to drive back home and get your wallet.

3) Law Enforcement will be impeded by the decreased willingness of Hispanics to talk to them. This will likely either decrease police effectiveness, increase the crime rate, or both.

• If you're a U.S. Citizen of Hispanic ethnicity (over 30% of AZ's population) and a witness to a crime or accident, you're less likely to stay around to make a statement to the cops if you fear they're going to harass you, or if you forgot to bring your ID today.
• If you're an illegal alien and you know of a crime (child abuse, for example) there's now significantly less chance you'll report that to the police, because doing so will disrupt your life immensely. We've just raised a huge barrier to their being able to do the right thing. This law will end up shielding violent offenders in heavily Latino communities.

4) Cops will have to spend time fighting lawsuits.

• The AZ law actually makes it possible for individuals and organizations to sue police officers and departments who DON'T enforce the law. So if I think someone is an illegal, and I see a cop NOT card him, I can file a complaint or law suit that eats up the officer's time. It opens the door for all sorts of meddling by people who think they can do the cop's job better themselves.
• White supremacists could easily abuse point 4a. Not because they have any legitimate reason to believe the person is an illegal, but purely for racist motivations.
• U.S. Citizens of Hispanic descent who feel their rights have been infringed by points 1, 2, and 3 are certainly going to launch lawsuits aimed at over-turning the law or to seek compensation or punitive awards.

5) The law reinforces discrimination against Gays and Lesbians.

• There's already an unfortunate double-standard in most states that a straight person who falls in love with someone from another country can marry them, and thereby assure their love interest can stay in the U.S. If you're homosexual, you're out of luck.  If you're a non-caucasian homosexual in Arizona that divide is now even more pronounced than it was a few weeks ago. 

6) Requiring certain ethnic groups to carry IDs is, historically, often an early step towards other discrimination, or things far worse. It's a slippery slope.

• Nazi Germany did this to many groups, most famously the Jews. (Yeah, this is bordering on Godwin's Law. Hitler ate sugar, etc. But in this case it's actually valid.)
• Apartheid South Africa, where one could actually be arrested for not carrying one's ID while asleep in bed. (Specifically mentioned in one my sources, below, I think it was the Huffington Post article.)

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The following news sources and blogs served as inspiration for this post, or came to my attention while I was doing fact-checking for this post:

ABC News
CBS News
Opposing Views
People's World
Desmond Tutu at the Huffington Post
ImmigrationProf Blog
Advocate Dot Com

The source of the awesome "crayon diagram" is Buzzfeed