Pima County, Arizon, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik objects to new immigration law

An Arizona sheriff says he has “no intention of complying” with the state’s “abominable” new immigration law, which he describes as a “national embarrassment.”

Last week, Arizona Governor Janice Kay “Jan” Brewer signed a controversial bill that authorizes state police to stop people they suspect may be illegal immigrants and demand identification.

Pima County Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik said he would like Brewer to know “what she and the legislature has accomplished is morally wrong and a national embarrassment,” ABC News reported.

The sheriff called the law abominable and said he did not intend to comply with it, because it was “racist.”

“We’re damned if we do, and damned if we don’t… If we go out and look for illegal immigrants, they accuse us of racial profiling and we can get sued. And if some citizen doesn’t think we’re enforcing the state law, they can sue us too,” said Dupnik.

“If the chief of police or sheriff takes a squad out and says to them that their only duty is to go out and round up illegal immigrants, they are going to racially profile… But we have never done that and we will never do that.”

Signing of the new bill, which many critics call the legalization of racial profiling, has sparked protests across the United States.

Hundreds of people in Arizona, New York, San Francisco and Chicago have rallied to show their anger with the legislation that from their viewpoint fosters racism.