Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Goodman critical of new Arizona immigration law

Mayor concerned new immigration law could lead to ‘horrible’ scenarios for Hispanics

Oscar Goodman

Dave Toplikar

Mayor Oscar Goodman said today that Arizona’s new immigration law could lead to searches like “what they were doing in the totalitarian countries … I think when you start picking on people because of a profile, without any reason, I think you could end up in a bad situation.” Goodman made the remarks at his weekly press conference in response to a reporter’s question about the new law, which he said he had not yet read.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said today that Arizona's new immigration law could lead to harassment and searches like "what they were doing in totalitarian countries."

Goodman, responding to a reporter's question at his weekly news conference, said he hadn't read the law, but could easily imagine how it's enforcement could lead to "some major problems."

As an example, the mayor said he was on an elevator at City Hall today when a man got on the elevator with him.

"He spoke with some kind of a Hispanic dialect. I couldn't tell you which one," Goodman said. "And I thought to myself, 'Wouldn't it be horrible if this gentleman didn't do anything wrong, did everything right, and had some law enforcement officer in a uniform push him up against a wall and say 'Give me, show me your papers or I'm arresting you.'"

The mayor said that kind of a scenario "didn't sit well with me."

"He didn't do anything wrong, ostensibly," Goodman said. "And I don't like profiling. And I know it may not be politically correct in what I'm saying, but, to me, that's what they were doing in the totalitarian countries.

"They picked on people just because of what the person's religion was, what the person's personal lifestyle was, what the person's ethnicity was."

Goodman said he could see such enforcement causing some major problems because if law enforcement officers don't conduct such enforcement, they could be sued.

"I understand it's very emotional. And I understand that the border cities and towns are a lot different than Las Vegas in the sense that there's an awful lot of violence down there and there's a lot of drug trafficking down there. There's a lot of heated feelings about that," he said.

"But I think when you start picking on people because of a profile, without any reason, I think you could end up in a bad situation."

Goodman said when he was first elected, many people began asking him about immigration enforcement.

He was briefed on the subject at a meeting with federal officials.

"They said we don't have the manpower to do it," Goodman said. "So basically, there are laws on the books that weren't being enforced."

He said the way local police handle illegal immigrants is that if they are arrested for a crime and their record is searched and it shows they're not legally here and don't have papers, then they were deported.

"And that appeared to make a little bit of sense because they're committing a crime," he said.

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