Sounds like racial profiling. A very tough issue to deal with. I mean, let's face it, if you are an illegal resident who happens to look Anglo or more politically correctly said, light skinned/eyes caucasian then your chances for being profiled are lessen... by a large margin, meanwhile, anyone resembling a gitano, moro, etc... u catch my drift...

JUST TODAY I saw a policeman questioning a couple guys whom, to me, seemed to be Eastern European. They were showing papers and all that and the cop was on the radio for what seemed like 15 minutes, presumably awaiting confirmation of their status. They were let go as I saw them in the street a couple hours later.

Saludos, MadridMan

NO&DO Yankaluz . It is racial profiling and whilst I an FAR from being racist , the police have to check on those that fit profiles in this crazy world of terrorism and crime .
Madrid , of course , suffered terribly from the train bomb that killed nearly 200 people ( I am referring specifically to Spain and in no way ignoring what happened in NYC or , for that matter in London and other countries ) .. Spain does not want to see that happen again , and yet intelligence suggests there will be another major terrorist attack in Europe .
If the police did not make these checks then they would be criticised .
The fact is , that Spain faces terrorism from muslim extremists ( not all muslims ! ) , and from ETA .
Less serious , they face crime instigated by a minority ( I really mean "a minority" of gypsies ( gitanos ) and East European immigrants .
The police cannot ignore the statistics and have to act . I don´t think that´s racism , I think it´s common sense , and it´s for the communities being targeted to get their "houses" in order and drive out the people that are staining their reputations .

There's no way to tackle this subject without getting argumentative, one side will get the short straw in the name of a cause, the other gets a sweeter end, it all depends on what side you fall in so your believes and emotions will differ.

As an example, I have seen reports over the different statistics on US population of what group and where represent what,,, I shall clarify without naming anyone.

We have a percentage of an US group that represents X% of the US population falling under a minority, yet Y% of incarcerated and convicted members of this same group representing a majority in jail... What do you make of it !?!?!?

You can not apply simple mathematical solutions to a far more complex human factors, despite the clear numbers, it does not quiet correlate. You can claim "common sense".

After all the attacks and intelligence gathered leading to a potential danger soon to come, we will fail miserably as people when we isolate and flag ourselves based on what appears to be a simple mathematical deduction. It is not simple at all and yet it may at times be necessary,,, thus contradicting my own belief against racial/ethnic profiling.

I don't have a solution and I was once told that if you don't have a solution then you are part of the problem, it may be the case, however, if the suspect of a heinous crime hides in a building, you don't floor the whole building killing everybody inside just because you know the criminal will perish too... you have to use tactic and explore other methods. I know that this analogy does not quiet fit the topic, I am not eloquent enough and this topic is clearly very complex as it is.

The bottom line is that there is no easy solution and that it may be a necessary evil, unfortunately for those fitting the profiles, they will have a much worse social experience and I'm not talking about being pulled over every once in while and asked about identification, no, I'm talking about the whole social degradation that this leads to, from educational options, employment opportunities, residential choices, social status, etc, etc, etc,,, it's a vicious circle where as long as we don't fully accept equality and continue to scrutinize a group, we as people will continue to fail every time...

I told you this was complicated!

See if the aliens (Outer of space types) can come back and sort this mess we made out !!!