http:www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/23/obama.immigration/index.html
A bill was passed Friday that requires Arizona police to determine whether a person is a legal citizen or not. It requires immigrants to carry the appropriate papers, and targets those who knowingly employ illegal labor. Some call this problematic, as "suspected of being an illegal alien" is seen as a thinly-veiled cover for "Hispanic". While there are other ways to tell if a person is here illegally, the most prominent, and easily-identifiable is obviously skin color. You'll never be able to train an officer well enough to assure a liberal that they are not profiling, and there will be cases when an officer's prejudice will rise above his training. I don't know what to say about these people, except to just get over it.
For one thing, the worst that can happen to a legal citizen is that they get checked, they don't have their papers, and they are detained until their citizenship is proven. It is not dissimiliar to the protocols behind driving. If a police officer pulls someone over, the first thing they check for is their license. If the driver doesn't have one, he must face the consequences. This situation is avoided simply by bringing your drivers license with you wherever you go. Why then, are people suddenly screaming "Police State!" now that immigrants are required to carry proof of their citizenship?
Illegal immigration is a probelm that has to be faced. To say nothing of its economic impact, illegal immigration is an insult to those who have come here legally. It unnaturally alters the labor market. Illegal aliens are like the moochers in college dorms, always taking the social security, medicare, and medicaid from the fridge, mysteriously absent when the pizza guy is collecting payment.
I suppose we'll see soon whether this will trigger racial profiling or turn Arizona into a police state. I doubt it will cause either with the right training, but I've been wrong before.
EDIT: Just so we're clear, I do not, in any way, approve of racial profiling. The bill explicitly prohibits racial profiling, but I do understand that that isn't something that is easily enforced. If this does lead to profiling, then of course its terrible, horrible, etc. thing, but to suddenly scream RAAAAAACIIIIISM before the bill has a chance to have any impact is unfair. Here's patiently waiting for the results of the healthcare bill, would appreciate if liberals would do the same. To be honest, the whole birth certificate thing is quite excessive.
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ReplyDeleteSomeone had posted a comment insulting our common sense, but unfortunatly he did not have enough common sense to refrain from posting the city/state where me and Reach live for all the internet to see
Obama has publically declared the recently passed Arizona law, which essentially enforces existing immigration laws, to be "misquided" and "irresponsible". Now let me see if I have this right. Arizona, following established legislative procedures, passes a law which directs the enforcement of laws which govern not only state, but also federal laws on immigration and this is deemed misquided and irresponsible by the President of the United States.
ReplyDeleteThis blatant display of political partisanship on such an important matter should be of great concern to all of us. Washington continues at breakneck speed down the "move over, we know what's best for you" highway. States rights are quickly being swept into the dustbin alongside the individual rights and responsibilities which were swept there some time ago.
John Galt really knew, didn't he?
In response to your post regarding the new Arizona Immigration Law, I would like to say kudos to you REACH for your bravery. It is not a popular thing in our current political environment to report your common sense view on the issue.
ReplyDeleteIn one of my classes I was introduced to a movie called, "El Norte". It was a short film about how bad the conditions were in Mexico and how one family made their way north and their eventual fate. It was heartbreaking and the feeling of empathy it gave me for their plight will always be with me. I recommend it highly for anyone who is against LEGAL IMMIGRATION.
Unfortunately, legal immigration is a ridiculously tedious, expensive and bureaucratic process. It pales to the previously mentioned DMV experience. So....as with medicare, medicaid, emergency health care, our tax system, etc; immigration has become a quagmire of fraud and abuse.
I could really go off on a rant against too much government and, poor government management of programs, but the immigration issue is too important to indulge my ADD here. Suffice to say that requiring us to have documents that prove citizenship is ok with me. It falls under the category of, "if I am not doing anything wrong it just does not matter". To suggest that there is not racial, gender, sexual preference, profiling going on all the time is naive. Sociologists tell us that we like sameness. We are naturally drawn to people that are more like us....it makes us more comfortable. Differences make us a little nervous. That is normal and natural. However, differences should not be an excuse for abuse. Is requiring me to carry papers to ensure my rights as a U.S. citizen abusive? Well....not to me...but that is just one opinion.
Lastly, our lack of resources (i.e. the pending bankruptcy of social security and the failing health care system) demands we act now regarding immigraion. The "papers" fix only addresses the symptoms of the core issue; the legal immigration process is broken. But, the last time I went to my doctor he was fine with just treating my symptoms because it was better than nothing!
I will call this law half-sensible if someone can tell me how to have reasonable suspicion of an illegal immigrant without resorting to racial profiling.
ReplyDeleteMy father worked for U.S. Customs, so he's pretty familiar with this issue. According to him, the agency spends its available budget deporting only 500 immigrants per year (that's out of the, oh, 11 million currently in this country). Trying to deport them all is simply not feasible when naturalization and prevention remain more viable options.