Police chiefs from several major US cities said today that Arizona’s harsh new anti-immigrant law will make it harder for law enforcement officers to do their jobs:

The new Arizona law will intimidate crime victims and witnesses who are illegal immigrants and divert police from investigating more serious crimes, chiefs from Los Angeles, Houston and Philadelphia said. They will join their counterparts from Montgomery County and a half-dozen other U.S. cities in meeting Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Wednesday morning to discuss the measure.

"This is not a law that increases public safety. This is a bill that makes it much harder for us to do our jobs," Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said. "Crime will go up if this becomes law in Arizona or in any other state."

This isn’t a surprise. Phoenix’s police chief has already come out against the new law, saying it “adds new problems for local law enforcement.” But the fact that more police chiefs are speaking out against Arizona’s law reflects the serious threat that as many as 15 states may pass laws similar to Arizona’s. It’s scary that the right-wing rhetoric surrounding immigration reform has begun to drown out the voices of the people in charge of keeping our cities safe…and it’s further proof that the Right Wing is more interested in creating a clamor than actually fixing the problem.

If you haven’t read it yet, check out People For’s report on the Right Wing’s Immigration Playbook.