"If Latinos in Arizona are more than just a little nervous about Arizona's new immigration law, it's likely because they remember history all too well, notes the Los Angeles Times. In mid-1997, the Phoenix suburb of Chandler was the scene of a huge sweep to find, and deport, illegal immigrants. Officers began following people, demanding to see proof of citizenship in the middle of the street, often targeting those who looked Mexican or were speaking Spanish. In the end, authorities ended up detaining dozens of citizens and legal residents and the state attorney general said officials had engaged in racial profiling. It was hardly the first time something like this happened. As many as 60 percent of the more than a million people who were deported in operations across the United States in the 1930s were U.S. citizens. But it's the memory of what happened in Chandler that makes many in Arizona fearful that history is bound to repeat itself when the new law takes effect July 29." - from The Slatest - June 7 2010
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