Coulter: "[E]veryone is blatantly lying about what this law does" ... “except Fox”

From the April 30 edition of Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor:

WILLIAMS: Ann, what do you think of this law? Is it about racial profiling as we are hearing from the pop stars?

COULTER: No, though I like that listening to air-headed celebrities, is almost identical to listening to news broadcasters on every station except Fox. No, everyone is blatantly lying about what this law does. Specifically racial profiling is prohibited by the law. Cops, by the way, cannot initiate contact with anyone under the law whom they could not initiate contact with before. It's when they are in the process of stopping someone or arresting someone if there is a reasonable suspicion that the person is here illegally, not based on race, not based on a suspicion of the person's national origin, but, you know, other reasons. If a cop stops a van that's speeding and 20 people get out and run in 20 different directions, that would cause reasonable suspicion. And it's not like Arizona is inventing this legal principle. There are decades of law interpreting reasonable suspicion.

Fox News personalities have expressed concerns about AZ law leading to racial profiling

Huckabee: "[T]here is no such thing" as “American looking.” During the April 24 broadcast of Fox & Friends Saturday, Fox News host Mike Huckabee stated, “They're going to get sued. I predict they're going to lose. Because if you stop somebody and say, you know, he just doesn't look American to me, what does that mean? Walk the streets of New York and tell me, how do you know who's the American-looking, because there is no such thing.”

Krauthammer: "[I]t could lead to a lot of civil rights abuses." Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer stated on the April 21 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Bret Baier that states are “trying to pass laws where you catch somebody already in the U.S. and it's really hard to discern who is and who is not illegal. Look, if you're at the border and somebody is climbing over the fence, you have a pretty high certainty it's an illegal. Now if somebody is standing outside a Home Depot who doesn't speak English, well he could be or he could not be. So it could lead to a lot of civil rights abuses. But the problem is ultimately that the feds haven't acted.”

Andrew Napolitano: “The law has to have standards in it” or “there would be a different standard for each police officer.” During the April 27 edition of Fox & Friends, Fox News legal analyst Andrew Napolitano stated, “Think about it. The police are going to stop somebody on the basis of where they look and say I think you're here illegally, give me your papers.” He added, “The problem with the law is that it's subjective. What's reasonable suspicion to you might be unreasonable suspicion to me. The law has to have standards in it. Otherwise police could stop people for any reason they wanted and there would be a different standard for each police officer. That's the importance of that question to the governor. Can you tell and illegal alien from a legal alien by looking at them? She said of course I can't. Neither can the police.”

Other Fox News figures have defended racial profiling

Crowder: Nothing wrong with law's racial profiling. During the April 23 edition of Fox News' Hannity, Fox News contributor Steven Crowder said that there's racial profiling in the law and “I don't think there's really anything wrong as far as racial profiling, stopping people who are coming in illegally. I mean, you're not looking for a blond haired, blue eyed Swede most of the time.”

Gutfeld: “A lot of the critics are saying this is racial profiling. Duh!” On the April 21 edition of Fox News' Hannity, Red Eye host Greg Gutfeld said of the law: “A lot of the critics are saying this is racial profiling. Duh! They're coming from another country. That's what you do. You have to look at them and see who they are before you know they're legal or illegal. I don't think that's a fair criticism.”

Gallagher doesn't care about racial profiling concerns. On the April 23 edition of his Salem Radio program, radio host and Fox News contributor Mike Gallagher told Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace, “Sign it, baby, sign it” and that the Arizona legislature is his “new hero.” After Wallace noted concerns about civil liberties, Gallagher said that “it's racial profiling, to be sure, cops know if there's a van full of dark-skinned men with lawnmowers packed into the back of a pick-up truck...that's what they're talking about.”

Malkin: “Arizona: Doing the job the feds won't do.” Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin praised the law in an April 23 post on her blog, writing: “GOP Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has signed the nation's toughest immigration enforcement bill. They're doing the job the feds won't do - taking the law and our borders seriously to protect the health, safety, and welfare of our citizens first. Cue the ACLU lawyers, the open-borders lobby, and the race-card players. And watch the Left show you what intolerance is really all about." Malkin, who wrote the book In Defense of Internment: The Case for Racial Profiling in World War II and the War on Terror, also wrote that some are “whining about Arizona becoming a 'police state.'”

Hume: “Some people are going to have to endure inconvenience as opposed to everybody.” On the April 19 edition of The O'Reilly Factor, Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume appeared to dismiss concerns about racial profiling, stating that “if it's an effective law enforcement technique done in good faith, people may have to endure some inconvenience. What we're saying here is that some people are going to have endure inconvenience as opposed to everybody having to endure it.”