North Pole, (Newswire) December 14, 2011- Santa Claus regrets to inform all boys and girls living in the state of Arizona that under advice of counsel, he will have to forego visiting the state of Arizona for fear of prosecution.
“I love all the good boys and girls of Arizona, but unfortunately, Mommy and Daddy allowed a law to be passed which could make Santa Claus a criminal,” Stated Santa Claus at his press conference.
The law that Santa Claus is talking about is “The Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act” , under this law makes it a state misdemeanor crime for an alien to be in Arizona without carrying the required documents, requires that state law enforcement officers attempt to determine an individual’s immigration status during a “lawful stop, detention or arrest” when there is reasonable suspicion that the individual is an illegal immigrant, bars state or local officials or agencies from restricting enforcement of federal immigration laws, and cracks down on those sheltering, hiring and transporting illegal aliens. The paragraph on intent in the legislation says it embodies an “attrition through enforcement” doctrine.
Our attorney elves have been reading the law, and in their opinion believe that Santa, being an undocumented alien under the definition of the present law, could be detained and arrested by local police. “The risk outweighs the rewards, I love the good boy and girls of Arizona but if I were to get arrested on Christmas Eve while in Arizona, the rest of the world would miss out on Christmas” stated Santa.
Who can blame the big guy, the law has been challenged by the Department of Justice as unconstitutional, but then again you have police departments like Oro Valley who are being sued for having a trigger happy SWAT team, when you put this all in the equation can you blame Santa for being cautious.
If you are a good boy or girl from the state of Arizona, don’t count Santa out just yet. He has never let anyone down before; I think he is just going to save your state for last.