While Arizona’s proposed immigration legislation is drawing fire from immigrant communities across the United States, ugly scenes have long been taking place in Seoul streets and elsewhere between law enforcement officers and illegal immigrants. At Garibong-dong and Jongno 3-ga, one can routinely witness heated conversations between uniformed and plainclothed police and people suspected of being non-citizens who have overstayed their visas.

The new state law of Arizona will require foreign nationals to carry relevant documents at all times. Opponents grumble that people may become the targets of random interrogations on the street because of their appearance. Korea’s Resident Registration Law does not require people to carry their resident registration cards at all times but the statute authorizes law enforcement officers to demand people show their state-issued ID when it is “necessary for the performance of their duties including criminal investigation.”

Appearance is the key element in the police’s selection of “suspects” from among the many people milling in the streets and packing subway stations. In case of women, hairstyles, clothes and accessories offer clues to their being foreigners. Officers can discern immigrants from Northeast China by their accent when they speak Korean, which is strongly influenced by the North Korean dialect.

Not many complaints have been raised. It has been taken for granted for the police to search for, since the war, spy suspects, draft dodgers, fleeing demonstrators and the ambiguous category of “crime-prone people.” But in the globalizing Korean society which has about 1 million foreign residents, about half of whom are migrant workers, either legal or illegal, our police and immigration officers need to take a more sophisticated and decent approach to their duties on the street.

Problems will unavoidably arise when officers primarily rely on their sixth sense and apply their own racial criteria in deciding who to check and who not to from among the crowd. Particular caution should be taken not to employ violence under any circumstances. The law asks officers to be kind and courteous in checking ID.