Arizona’s two senators are demanding that a top State Department official apologize for comparing the state’s new immigration law with human rights abuses in China.
“As the [official] in charge of the Bureau of Democracy and Human Rights, your remarks are particularly offensive,” Republican Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl wrote Michael Posner, the assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. “We demand that you retract your statement and issue an apology.”
Posner’s comments came at a Friday press briefing outlining a meeting between U.S. and Chinese officials on human rights issues.
Asked if the Arizona law was discussed and whether it was Chinese or American officials who had broached the subject, Posner said, according to a State Department transcript of the briefing:
“We brought it up early and often. It was mentioned in the first session as a troubling trend in our society and an indication that we have to deal with issues of discrimination or potential discrimination. And these are issues very much being debated in our own society.”
“You seemed to imply [the Arizona law] is morally equivalent to China’s persistent pattern of abuse and repression of its people,” McCain and Kyl wrote in demanding the apology. “To compare in any way the lawful and democratic act of the government of the state of Arizona with the arbitrary abuses of the unelected Chinese Communist Party is inappropriate and offensive.”
Arizona’s new immigration law requires law enforcement officers to try to find out a person’s immigration status if the officer has “reasonable suspicion” that the person is in the U.S. without documentation. Critics argue the law will lead to racial profiling.
President Barack Obama has called the new law “misguided,” and the Justice Department is reviewing it and considering legal challenges.
Sens. McCain & Kyl's Letter:
McCain Kyl Posner Letter
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