Phoenix -- You can tell you've arrived in Phoenix in the summer when the moment you walk through the doors exiting the airport, you feel as if you'd just opened the door to a gigantic preheated oven. It just slaps you in the face. I arrived here around 7 p.m., and the temperature was above 100 degrees; they expected 110 degrees the following day.

On the airplane I overheard a man say, “We're going back to hell.” I suppose he was talking about the  
scorching-hot temperatures, but he could have been talking about the atmosphere created by the imminent implementation of Arizona's anti-immigrant law SB 1070.

In an otherwise attractive state that houses some of the best spas in the country and the breathtaking mountains of Sedona, Arizona at this moment is not a pretty sight. The vast Hispanic population here is confused, angry and uncertain, but mostly afraid.

Some of my Twitter followers from Arizona have expressed their fear. One said, “My husband is going to work and I am taking my children to the doctor but we don't know if we are coming back home.”

The issue of immigration is as hot as the smoldering temperatures. The many lawsuits filed to try to stop the law from going into effect claim that it violates the Constitution and infringes on the ability of the federal government to set and implement immigration laws. But several of them speak of the concern that it might lead to racial profiling. That is, without a doubt, the most controversial part of the Arizona law.

Thirty percent of Arizona's population is Hispanic. It is estimated that 4 percent of the state's population is undocumented. While most undocumented immigrants are Latinos, most Latinos are not undocumented. So how will law-enforcement officers be able to tell the difference between a legal resident, a U.S. citizen of Hispanic descent and an undocumented immigrant?

Law-enforcement agents have been given a set of guidelines to follow to determine if someone might be in the country illegally. When they stop an individual for a suspected infraction, they should consider the clothes the person is wearing, his or her demeanor and his or her accent or ability to speak English correctly to determine if they should ask for proof of legal immigration status.

Let's assume for a moment that an undocumented immigrant might be wearing a washed-out shirt with jeans. He might have worked as a gardener; therefore, his shirt might be a bit dirty. Would a police officer then have to conclude that all gardeners with dirty shirts are undocumented? What about the accent? Isn't it possible that a legal resident or a naturalized citizen could have an accent?

An article in The Arizona Republic says that the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there are approximately 39,000 U.S.-born Arizona residents who do not speak English well or at all. If stopped for an infraction, they could be deemed undocumented and taken into custody until their status was cleared.

By the way, the accent an officer might detect would be a Spanish accent, not necessarily a British accent or a French or Asian accent. Therefore, it is racial profiling. The object of the Arizona law is not to go after undocumented immigrants, but rather Mexican undocumented immigrants.

Another piece of interesting information I found in The Arizona Republic is that of the 50,000 undocumented immigrants from Ireland who live in the country, about 1,000 of them live in Phoenix. How will law- 
enforcement agents be able to find them if they use the guidelines they've been given to determine if someone should be suspected of being here illegally?

Polls show that the majority of Americans support the Arizona law. I believe if the majority of Americans looked into the details of the law, they would have a change of heart. Our immigration problem is serious, and we must find a solution. But targeting one ethnic group -- the fastest- 
growing one, at that -- is not the American way.

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(Maria Elena Salinas is the author of “I AM MY FATHER'S DAUGHTER: LIVING A LIFE WITHOUT SECRETS.” Reach her at www .mariaesalinas.com)

© 2010 by Maria Elena Salinas

Distributed by King Features Syndicate