Arizona authorities wisely have decided to carry out a more thorough review of a deputy sheriff's claim that he was ambushed by illegal Mexican immigrants wielding high-powered AK-47 military weapons and wounded during a shootout.
The rest of the nation deserves it. The story, fishy sounding from the outset, set in motion something of a national scare about illegal immigrants and created a stereotype of violent foreigners run amok.
In addition to the deputy's ambush claims, the scenario was salted by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's claims of immigrants' being beheaded in the Sonoran Desert (debunked by law enforcement), TV's suggestion that Phoenix is the "kidnapping capital of America" (unsubstantiated) and charges by politicians that "most" illegals arrive in Arizona as "mules" carrying drugs (debunked) and that illegals are causing a rash of freeway accidents (no proof).
The cumulative effect stirred the Arizona Legislature to enact legislation arming local police with broader powers to arrest illegal immigrants, which prompted 20 other states to consider emulating the law.
If, as two pathologists suggest, the deputy's wound may have been staged, then Latin American immigrants as a group have been unfairly stereotyped as violent, and politicians have callously created unnecessary fear.
On the other side of the debate on immigration, former Army Gen. and Secretary of State Colin Powell expresses a far more savvy perspective. Powell says illegal immigrants are performing jobs that are "keeping this country's lifeblood moving forward" and should be allowed to work their way to citizenship.
Wisely, bravely spoken.
