Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles.

By now, any sentient being in North America has likely heard of Arizona's draconian new immigration law. Briefly, the new law allows state police to challenge anyone they see fit to produce papers establishing that they are in the country legally.

There's a lot that is wrong with that, not least that in a practically all-white state like Arizona, the only reasonable target population is almost exclusively Latino. There's also the likely fact that the law is prima facie unconstitutional, certainly if you take a look at the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. And if you dig even deeper, the idea that officers of the state can subject random individuals to search without probable cause violates Anglo-American legal bedrock, namely the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 and the Magna Carta of 1215.

For the citizens of a City that would not exist were it not for immigrants - we have a statue in the harbor about that - Arizona's law shouldn't be something that just happens in flyover country, out of sight, out of mind.

So here's what you can do. Email Arizona's governor Jan Brewer here, and let her know what you think. If you're on Facebook, join this group. Another online campaign is here. Let the Latino New York legislators planning to travel tto Arizona for some civil disobedience know you support them.

This is America. We're better than this.