The United States has a problem with illegal immigration -- no question. But this nation also has a problem with immigration hysteria that breeds racism, xenophobia and plain, old-fashioned inhumanity. The second problem complicates the first.

When Latinos in Arizona complained that a new state crackdown on illegal aliens would lead to racial stereotyping by local police agencies, many Americans were quick to dismiss the justified complaints of those citizens who said that they might fall under suspicion even if their Spanish-speaking ancestors came to America generations ago.

That is not our problem, many passionate foes of illegal immigration made clear. But in news from Utah that recalls pastor Martin Niemoller's famous writing about how the Nazis came for the Jews, trade unionists, Communists and others but he did not speak out because he was not one of them, some group or person has anonymously disclosed names and personal information of alleged illegal immigrants.

A line of decency was crossed here, and somewhere the ghost of dictators past are smiling. Hatred of illegal immigrants has brought to America something that smacks of the informers in totalitarian societies. It has returned the nation to the time of witch hunts.

Whoever did this was coldly calculating. Dossiers of 1,300 purported illegal immigrants were sent to reporters, Utah officials and politicians. Along with names and addresses, information that is usually considered confidential was included -- Social Security numbers, birth dates, places of employment and phone numbers. The names of children and the due dates of pregnant women were even included. When someone really hates someone else in another group, nothing is sacred.

Given the sensitive personal details released, investigators are looking at state agencies as a likely source of the leak. If a state employee made this attack on illegal aliens, it is also an assault on the trust that undergirds the relationship between citizens and their government.

That abuse is not limited to cases of illegal immigration. Once the principle is established that confidential information can be leaked for a political purpose, no one is safe. They came first for illegal immigrants, but it doesn't stop there.

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