Congressman Invites You to Play Challenging 'Pick Out the Immigrant' Game

Illinois Congressman Luis Gutierrez is genuinely impressed with the psychic abilities of Arizona law enforcement officials, who, thanks to a “show me your papers” provision in an immigration law the Supreme Court just ruled constitutional, will now will be able to and check the immigration status of anyone they’ve stopped for committing a crime that they suspect may be in this country illegally. What’s extra impressive about these law enforcement officials is that they can tell, just by looking, who is here legally and who is here illegally, a skill that most Americans probably do not possess. Don’t believe me? Try to play the “Pick Out the Immigrant” game yourself.

Unfortunately, in this game, as in life, none of the potential immigrants are running around looking like how immigrants look in racist political cartoons your great uncle won’t stop forwarding everyone in the family. No one is sleeping under a cactus or standing in line to get American passports for three yowling anchor babies or forming street gangs in previously idyllic suburbs. Instead, they’re looking, uh, normal.

Based purely on appearance, whose papers would you check? Justin Bieber’s, or Selena Gomez’s? If you were an Arizona cop and pulled over a van containing Menudo, would you check their papers? How about Geraldo Rivera’s? How about Ted Koppel’s? The answers, as answers tend to do, may surprise you.

So, how’d you do? Do you have what it takes to be an Arizona police officer? Or will your substandard immigrant-sniffing skills land you in non-immigrant-hating New Mexico?