It’s official: Arizona has become the new target of the liberal bloc. The Obama Administration and several liberal activist groups have taken a break from mocking the tea party movement, and have focused their attention on the state of Arizona.
The state’s newest illegal immigration law demands proper immigration documentation, illegalizes the transport of illegal immigrants and prohibits people from blocking traffic as they try to solicit work. So why are so many radicals boycotting Arizona?
Aside from questioning its constitutionality, liberal spin-doctors have twisted this immigration law into a racial controversy in hopes of fostering a stronger political following. After all, the race card has been effective in gaining Democratic support for other issues. Why not try it now? According to these folks, the new law steps on the toes of the federal government and encourages racial profiling.
This would be an excellent argument … that is, if it were actually valid.
The truth is, President Obama knows Arizona has not broken any federal laws. Although he has severely scolded the state for taking this recent action, he really can’t do anything about it. Aside from 10th Amendment protection, Plyer v. Doe (1982) affirmed the states ability to deter the influx of persons entering the United States against federal law. If Arizona had done anything legally inappropriate, the Obama Administration would have immediately denounced it as unconstitutional. Instead, Attorney General Eric Holder claims that the Justice Department is still “considering all of our options.” In other words, the Obama Administration is stalling for its own federal immigration legislation to make its way through Congress.
Many argue that the local police should not be burdened with the responsibilities of federal law. However, the inactivity of the federal government has given the state no choice but to take matters into their own hands. Several Arizona citizens have been brutally murdered by illegal immigrants, the kidnapping rate has skyrocketed and drug use has dramatically increased. Sorry, but I thought the purpose of local law enforcement was to maintain and encourage a safe environment for its citizens.
Opponents of this law neglect to understand the infeasibility of Arizona police using racial profiling to control immigration. With Hispanics making up over 30 percent of Arizona’s population, it would be impossible to pull over every Hispanic driver. As a result, the bill would only target those that were acting blatantly suspicious.
Even Sen. Harry Reid admits that “the system is broken” when it comes to illegal immigration policy. However, the liberal-supported policy of amnesty to illegal immigrants is no policy, and has no element of sustainability. In 1986, over 2.7 million immigrants were granted amnesty. Statistics show this only encouraged more to cross the border. National illegal immigration policy has failed, and Arizona has stepped up to the plate.
Obama said Arizona’s new legislation threatens to “undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans.” But tell me, is it fair that so many illegal immigrants reap the social benefits of our government? Or is it fair that many of our own citizens get rejected to our state universities year after year in favor of students from illegal immigrant families?
We often generalize that all illegal immigrants are taking on the unskilled jobs that Americans don’t want. Yet Jeffrey Passell, a demographer at Pew Hispanic Center estimates that “20 percent of cooks … and about 14 percent of all workers in the construction industry are in the United States illegally.” I know plenty of unemployed Americans that would leap at these job opportunities.
Furthermore, other states are indeed following Arizona’s “daring” move as they are likewise tired of federal inactivity. When we think of illegal immigration, we often don’t consider Canadian immigrants. However, Pennsylvania legislature is looking to replicate Arizona’s bill as they fight their own “illegal alien invasion” from the north.
I don’t understand why this is such a sensitive matter to our government and to the general public. The government should be looking out for the rights and liberties of its own citizens. Too often, illegal aliens are generalized under the umbrella term of “undocumented citizens.” They have crossed the border illegally, and they are not citizens. Immigrants are not entitled to the rights and benefits of American citizens until they are citizens.
I believe it is a blessing to live in this wonderful country and have the opportunity to receive an education at one of the nation’s finest institutions. My grandfather struggled to gain citizenship in America when he emigrated from Ireland, but he worked hard for it and succeeded. He valued America for its endless opportunity and felt it was a privilege to be an American. Most of us at Cal Poly share similar immigration stories, as do millions of Mexican-Americans. Legal immigration can be a time-consuming process, but it is not impossible.
Kudos to the state of Arizona. It’s about time the American Dream was protected.
brendan, you are so wack.
i’m so glad that they titled this overprivileged white piece of shit’s article “regulation is necessary to prevent oil spills in the future.”
can the mustang daily get anything right?
Hmmm… Racial profiling: The use by law enforcement personnel of an individual’s race or ethnicity as [a factor] in articulating reasonable suspicion to stop, question or arrest an individual, [unless] race or ethnicity is part of an identifying description of a specific suspect (or group) for a specific crime. There’s the definition, and it appears that racial profiling shouldn’t be an issue. However, it’s proven to be an effective term to use when one doesn’t have an argument of any real substance. It’s in the same quiver with arrows such as racist and bigot, homophobe, hate monger and such. Oh, one more, right wing Christian *@#+. These kinds words tend to bully their way into acceptance as truth rather than through honest dialogue. One only has to go as far back as the infamous O.J. trial to see the (potential) power for injustice held in a single word used against an inadequate adversary.
Arizona’s law shouldn’t polarize anybody except those breaking the law and those not breaking it. What is needed in AZ, and across our nation, is what is needed in Iraq; for [citizens] to step up to the plate, face their fears of being slandered and labeled by “stupid”* radicals, and begin protecting their homeland and their fellow citizens from those who don’t share their [chosen] allegiances. We are Americans first, we choose to be, and America is what [our] loyalty should be to first.
After all the sacrifice that won the war for independence from Britain, our future was nearly aborted by a few who demanded the rights of their individual states over what was best for union. *Stupid, stupid, stupid!
“..the bill would only target those that were acting blatantly “suspicious.” ” I am sorry, Brendan, but this is so ambiguous. This bill straight up legalizes racial profiling.
This country was founded by illegal immigrants and here we are setting up unfair international commerce laws on neighboring countries (ex. NAFTA), fueling prostitution, drug trafficking, and pollution on their countries and illegal immigration on our countries and telling our cops to deal with it and our people to build fences. Seriously? How old are we?
I hope that part of your “education at one of the nation’s finest institutions” includes traveling the rural sides of Latin America.
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-443003
ill keep this short, to get my point across. The Immigration Law is literally a law that encourages profiling,and denies many legal U.S. citizens nearly every right protected under the 14th amendment. I dont deny illegal immigration is a problem, but this certainly is not the solution, and polarizing the situation into a liberal v. conservative hate-fest will get this country nowhere.
Finally… check your facts regarding Supreme Court decisions… heres the real deal behind PlyLer v. Doe (1982)
Facts of the Case:
A revision to the Texas education laws in 1975 allowed the state to withhold from local school districts state funds for educating children of illegal aliens. This case was decided together with Texas v. Certain Named and Unnamed Alien Child.
Question:
Did the law violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?
Conclusion:
Yes. The Court reasoned that illegal aliens and their children, though not citizens of the United States or Texas, are people “in any ordinary sense of the term” and, therefore, are afforded Fourteenth Amendment protections. Since the state law severely disadvantaged the children of illegal aliens, by denying them the right to an education, and because Texas could not prove that the regulation was needed to serve a “compelling state interest,” the Court struck down the law.
As the Supreme Court noted in Plyer v. Doe in 1982, “Although the State has no direct interest in controlling entry into this country, that interest being one reserved by the Constitution to the Federal Government, unchecked unlawful migration might impair the State’s economy generally, or the State’s ability to provide some important service. Despite the exclusive federal control of this Nation’s borders, we cannot conclude that the States are without power to deter the influx of persons entering the United States against federal law, and whose numbers might have a discernible impact on traditional state concerns.”
Ignorance.
Before I comment seriously on this article:
1. Where do you find, what is your source, that states that "Several Arizona citizens have been brutally murdered by illegal immigrants?" Is this fact or generalization? I’m willing to bet it is a generalization because the truth of the matter here, immirgrants, illegal or not, come to America for a better life, and to provide for their families, most would have too much to lose to commit crime or do anything that causes attention to themselves for fear of being discovered and deported.
2. You fail to address the negative impacts that the bill would have on American citizens. Oh, but maybe it doesn’t matter to you because your skin tone and the way you look is the way an American is suppposed to look, so you would never be affected. Furthermore, U.S. citizens are being deported daily on account that they cannot find their birth certificates. A Navajo man got deported just the other day because he "fit the profile" of an illegal immigrant.
3. You fail to address the fact that millions upon millions of ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM CANADA ENTER THE UNITED STATES EVERY YEAR, but they are not a problem, why??
4. You say the "race card" is pulled up a lot and is unnecessary, but the fact of the matter is is that RACE is a REALITY, even if it is a social construction. And the reality is that RACE has EVERYTHING to do with this, and once we realize that race is a factor in most everything in the American life: socially, economically, culturally, etc. we will not go anywhere, we will stay stagnant and keep getting skewed legislation that puts a temporary stop to the leak on the damn that we all know will collapse VERY soon.
5. The bill creates a policed state. It is NOT immigration control, it IS POPULATION CONTROL, and we ALL SHOULD BE THREATENED AS OUR CIVIL RIGHTS ARE AT RISK. And the rights that our great leaders like Malcom X, Mr. King, and Cesar Chavez and Delores Huerta, even America’s founding fathers fought for are being pissed on by RACIST, FASCIST BASTARDS.
Thank you.
Concerned Citizen,
You accuse the author of making generalizations and rightfully so, however, your first point is a huge generalization: “..because the truth of the matter here, immirgrants, illegal or not, come to America for a better life, and to provide for their families..”
This article was HORRIBLY written and the author should look in the mirror when wondering how the media can so easily take things out of context. It is because people such as him have done such an inadequate job of defending the bill.
The bill simply reiterates federal law and a person can only be asked for documents upon “lawful contact.” The Arizona legislature recently clarified the law so it is understood that “lawful contact” cannot simply JUST be based on skin color.
Here is the actual text of the bill:
http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf
If we trust law enforcement to enact all others laws, why not this one as well?
For what it’s worth, Brendan, while we don’t share too many views on this issue, I think your column was rather well written, and you make some valid points. I think some of the rest of you should give this kid a break. Name-calling and personal attacks get us nowhere.
NEW RULE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_fwNN_PYyw
Get used to it buddy, its manifest destiny, and Arizona will eat its words one day.
PS. Crime rate is at an all time low in Arizona since the 70’s.
Go Arizona.
Imagine, a law that would send ILLEGAL(I know all of you intelligent CP students know and thoroughly understand the definition of this term, right?) immigrants back to where they belong, or perhaps put them in jail(again, where they belong, they committed a CRIME)! How absurd that would be!
So, give amnesty to all illegal immigrants, /make/ them legal. Surely you would be ok with this right? Something tells me there’s more to it than just the fact that there are undocumented people living here.
I wish everyone would read the entire law before regurgitating what they read in the newspaper. I’ve read the law and I support it.
I would like to personally insult you on your article. If you were to walk through Arizona would you feel threatened of being deported? I’m sure it wouldn’t even cross your mind, or the minds of others. But I, an American Born, raised here in the central coast just like you, as I see you went to AG High, Righetti here, would. not because I am illegal but because “America” has classified people who look like me as illegal, although my grandfather, father, and myself are all happy living in the Central Coast legally.
I am sure states like Pennsylvania have their own immigration issues but the point in this one is can u really tell the difference between yourself and a Canadian? Or should my question can you tell the difference between yourself and a Mexican, or Salvadorian, or Saudi Arabian? I think that is the issue that you don’t get. That is why this is such a sensitive issue for so many Americans. Because we don’t all look the same and it is Racial Profiling.
As you are from the central coast I would like to point out that yes we are going through and economic rollercoaster at the moment. And can you please let those “plenty of unemployed Americans” that there are plenty of jobs picking strawberries here in the central coast for an amazing $8.00 an hour and that they can come here and work just fine. And problem solved I believe is true if your end is true.
I too take being at this fine institution as a great blessing. And finally I am glad your grandfather was able to come to America Legally, just like my Grandfather did years ago. I would like to know how long he waited in Ireland before he came to the United States as a Permanent Resident and how long after that did it take for him to become a citizen of this great land.
Kudos to the illegal immigrant who picked my vegetables I bought last night at food 4 less for such a great price.
You say kudos to the illegal that picked your vegetables, which I can relate to and appreciate. However, what happens when that same illegal rear-ends you on Madonna road, then flees the scene because he/she is uninsured, scared of deportation(which is extremely frightening, don’t get me wrong), and then you are stuck there with a damaged car and expected to float the bill? What happens if someone in your vehicle was seriously injured in the accident? What if the illegal driver was also injured in the accident, even if he did flee? When he goes to the E.R. and cannot be refused treatment, whose tax dollar and insurance premiums do you think cover him? Yours do. The taxpaying American citizen. So you might save $.45 a pound on lettuce, but is the cost lost elsewhere?
There is more to illegals than just cheap labor…
“He [Economist William Ford of Middle Tennessee State University] calculates that illegal immigrants contributed $428 billion dollars to the nation’s $13.6 trillion gross domestic product in 2006. ”
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2008-04-10-immigrantstaxes_N.htm
Do some research before you make broad generalizations based on your blind hate.
Get a bike, then you’ll save even more money. Amnesty to illegal immigrants. Abolish NAFTA.
“There is more to illegals than just cheap labor…”
yeah, they’re also people.
What a terribly emotional response to a rational bill that gives authority to enforce laws that exist.
If you’re whole point is that this bill will encourage racial profiling because all Latinos have a certain, that’s really only a secondary factor. The letter of the law allows officers to make the call based on observed activity. The fact that 65% of illegals in this country are from Mexico/Central America is a natural result of those regions being homogeneous and having terrible government structures.
Here’s essentially what the problem is. This bill targets illegals in Arizona, which are overwhelming Latinos. The bill doesn’t target Latinos, it targets illegals and it does so based on situation reasoning NOT SKIN COLOR. The fact that most illegals have the same perceivable features is secondary but people use this argument to somehow disregard the fact that our police force needs to have authority to enforce the laws.
Your “65%..” fact sounds like a very wrong estimate. How can you measure something that isn’t reported?
We have terrible government structures in our countries (I am Peruvian-American), which are fueled by the American government and American corporations. Thanks for making us want to leave our hometowns.
Please elaborate on “observed activity” and “situational reasoning” as a rationale to allow police to ask for immigration documents. This sounds as vague as your “65%..” fact. Read the post below by Victor Ramos.
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/ILL_PE_2005.pdf
And really, the United States is responsible for all of the complex cultural, political, and economical problems associated with all of Latin America? I think you’re smart enough to understand it is not nearly that simple.
I’ll let the NY Times elaborate on what I’m talking about:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/29/opinion/29kobach.html?hpReport%20Offensive%20Post%20Report%20Offensive%20P
Overgeneralization. I never said that the US is responsible for ALL of the problems associated with all of Latin America. My statement above simply implies that American influence is related to many problems occurring in Latin America.
“n. Estimated unauthorized immigrant population on January 1, 2005: Subtracting the estimated legally resident immigrant population (2m.) from the total foreign-born population on January 1, 2005 (1g.) yields the estimate of the unauthorized immigrant population.”
The numbers this report comes up is the best estimate they can get, but what about all of the people who cross the border illegally who aren’t counted?
And to put numbers to what J said above, illegal immigrants contributed to a little over 3% of the gross domestic product in 2006. It would be interesting to find out the percentage of government (health, etc) spending on illegal immigrants compared to the amount they contribute per year.
I think we would be much better off if we focused on preventative and integrative actions to live in a better place, instead of actively seeking and expelling those who don’t necessarily mean harm (tax evasion, car accident example) but that are also looking for what our ancestors were when they first arrived here.
THERE REALLY IS A NEED FOR SARCASM FONT.
You should reply with your real name if you feel so strongly about your post. I am sorry for what happened to you in your runoff of what if statements. Look into this web site http://redblueamerica.com/truthornot/2008-04-03/do-illegal-immigrants-receive-more-government-benefits-they-pay-taxes-2300 it puts it out and you can make your personal decision on how much illegal immigrants do “pay” in taxes. My response is on racial profiling not on immigration reform. If you want to get into immigration reform I would be more than happy to give my viewpoints on that. Look into the Dream Act that is, I believe a great piece of legislation that definitely pays off in the long run.
And please don’t get me started with the “Ethnic Studies” in k-12 part of this issue.
Brendan the issue people have with this piece of legislation is that it does promote racial profiling. Who do you think the police would have a “suspicion of being here illegally,” the guy with white skin and blond hair or the guy that is dark like a Mexican, Central American and so on? And also I am glad your grandfather was able to come here legally, but now it costs thousands of dollars and takes up to 10 yrs to legally come here. That is money and time that most people that come here do not have: they have a choice between watching their family die in poverty or go to a country illegally knowing that you will not be liked.
First of all, government shouldn’t mandate that hospitals are required to treat every patient that comes in. This is a form of fascism. Eliminating this requirement would make services less expensive over time due to market competition. Most likely, cheap enough where they could afford to provide services for free occasionally.
The issue of illegal immigration is chiefly a matter trespassing. A non-American (we’ll hypothetically call him Nigel) is on the property owned by Americans. Suppose Nigel gets a job working at a retail store inside the political borders of America. Since an employer desires his labor and Nigel agrees to the wage offered, Nigel is not trespassing. He is welcome to occupy the land owned by the store owner. After the work day is over, he is no longer welcome and told to go home. Nigel has to step out on to the sidewalk or street, a publicly owned piece of land, in order to go home, wherever home is. Home could be an apartment owned by another private company that welcomes his occupancy so longs as he provides a rent. Now, he wants to eat something. The favorite restaurant he likes to go to (another private business) welcomes his company, as long as he buys some of their food, which he does. By agreeing to the terms of his presence at his work, home, or favorite restaurant, he is not trespassing. The trouble comes whenever he is on public land. His state of existence there is ambiguous. If Nigel acts normally, he will most likely not be harassed by the police, but he will be harassed if he acts “suspiciously”. To observe someone acting “suspiciously” is to employ an arbitrary, subjective viewpoint by whoever has the authority to decide. At the retail store, the store owner has the authority to decide. At the apartment, the landlord has the authority to decide. And at the restaurant, the restaurant owner has the authority to decide. There are far fewer problems on the privately owned land than on the publicly owned land. Suppose the landowners between the retail store and the apartment decided to created a path that Nigel could travel on if he payed some amount of money. Surely they would welcome his brief occupancy on their land if he payed some sort of toll. And Nigel would enjoy the hassle free travel compared to constantly looking over his back to see if a police officer is going to arrest him.
With more private landowners seeking to make money however they are best at doing it, the less discriminatory they become. After all, when they discriminate against someone for whatever reason, they lose the opportunity to sell them a service and make money. This also has the effect of making the terms of occupancy as clear and transparent as possible. If a business took advantage of people due to a technicality in the “fine print”, it would lose the future business of those it negatively affected. Word would get out and it would develop a bad name, possibly going out of business due to lack of business.
There are two opposing directions to go: increasing private ownership of land or increasing public ownership of land. Currently, public land ownership trumps private land ownership. Think of every public road, every public school, every public park, and any unowned land which defaults to public ownership. Can you even imagine all that? Now add to that every government guaranteed mortgage. Supposedly, it owns 90% (1) of all new mortgages! Add it all up and that’s a lot of real estate to manage by mobocracy.
I hope my hypothetical makes sense, even if you can’t see it in effect anywhere in America any more. I also hope my opinion piques your curiosity as a different option to those offered by the left and right reactionaries.
(1) http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125358080
“First of all, government shouldn’t mandate that hospitals are required to treat every patient that comes in. This is a form of fascism.”
Hahahahaha you clearly have no fucking idea what fascism actually means. Demanding “your papers” is fucking fascism, havn’t you watched any WWII movie? ‘Show me your papers’ is closely associated with a police state.
And you think we should just leave the sick and dying out on the streets? If you get in a car crash, and can’t prove right then that you have the funds to pay for it, that’s it the paramedics should just walk away? You’re out of your fucking mind.
Illegal – “unlawful; illegitimate; illicit; unlicensed.”
Why do people continue to blatantly support those individuals that are here illegally??
despite that i support the hardworking ILLEGAL immigrants that are here, and i believe that every PERSON in the US legal or not legal should have the right to education/basic rights, we must realize that illegal immigrants are forcing LEGAL immigrants to pay MORE for not going through the legal process of getting citizenship. The costs of citizenship and a green card will continue to rise if immigrants come here illegally. This is NOT fair to the people that come here legally that have to go through the entire process. These people don’t deserve to suffer the burdens of illegal immigrants because many of them are struggling too, whether it be financially or culturally, whatever!
the real steps that need to be taken is by Mexico. Why are so many people rushing out of Mexico to live in the US illegally when they can live in their own country legally? Obviously Mexico needs to start being more proactive on dealing with the emigration instead of handing the problem over to the US. It’s only gonna get worse, and by worse i mean bullshit laws like Arizona Immigration Law sb1070, which undoubtedly is ridden with racial profiling.
>implying the only way to protect the american dream is to demand people produce “their papers”
dohohohohohoho
Really, this is fucking retarded. Do you carry your birth certificate or social security card with you in your wallet? How would you like if you had to produce this documentation for committing no crime other than “looking suspicious”? This is so clearly a violation of our rights it’s not even funny. Looking suspicious is now probably cause? What does it mean to look suspicious?
How many white people do you think will be targeted to procure their documents? None. Only hispanics. The racial profiling necessarily must happen for this law to work, but that part doesn’t even bother me. What bothers me is the idea that the police can demand identity papers from you at will, that’s nazi-esque and that’s NOT what America stands for.
Come on American people! Wake up illegal immigration is a very big problem in our country! We want to talk about a national security threat against America, this is it. The government has documentation on all of us. Why should we sit back & allow these illegal aliens to take up all our resources? Then get drunk, rape, molest, kill, & steal from people who do belong here. Then run back to mexico. That’s a national threat to all who really belong here. They come here, act like they are better than everybody else. Only want to associate with their own kind, then direct their racism toward everyone else. They are the ones who are not welcome here. The only people who want them over here are themselves! Wake up! This is America there are several different races out here. If you don’t want to co-exist with other races stay the f*** in mexico! No one asks you people to even come over here. You all want to be by yourselves, stay where you belong! They’re Neanderthals! They don’t want to do what it takes to be an American, they just want to try & take over! Look at the statistics my American people. The mojority of murders, rapes, child molestation, & fatal alcohol related car crashes are caused by hispanics! & then they want to run back to where they came from, & their authorities will not extridite them. That’s a threat to my people our nation. This should not be allowed any longer. If you’re not a criminal (which the mojority of them are) you should not be offended by the new Arizona bill. I’m so glad someone decided to step up & take their sense if security back! IT’S ABOUT TIME! California is going to be next in line! GOD BLESS AMERICA, & the people who are rightfully here!
Relax, Concerned American Citizen. You can’t lock up yourself within walls, there’s people living all over the world! We do not live in a bubble, we are all interconnected! Ask yourself about WHY people want to come to the US? Why illegally? How hard is it to come here legally? Ask yourself.. do I usually see more cops in low-income neighborhoods? Who lives in low-income neighborhoods? Whites? Hispanics? Blacks? If there are more cops here than in affluent areas, then doesn’t this increase the risk of a person living in a low-income neighborhood to go to jail over the person living in the affluent area?
From personal experience, I can tell you that it took me 11 years after the residence application to hear back from the US Embassy. Then my mother and I had to make a quick decision (within 6 months) to whether we wanted to live everything behind and start fresh in a new country. After 5 years of living here, we applied to become citizens. Countries should be proactively working with each other to keep their citizens happy. There’s a lot of discontent in Latin America due to corrupt governments, lack of education, unfair trade agreements between them and the US, EU, lack on safe working conditions, and more. Overall, Latin American people are leaving their farming lifestyles to move the cities where the industries are located due to the fact that cheap food is flooding the markets (from other counties–free trade agreements), making it extremely hard for farmers to make a living. Once they go to the urban areas, they often don’t have enough money or know the right people to get a good paying job and end up living in misery, where malnutrition arises, drug use, crime, prostitution, etc.
These problems are just not caused by one thing, it’s a combination of things and the US is included here, therefore as the “global police” that it often acts as, the US should be more proactive at remediating the illegal immigration problem by looking at the ROOTS of the problems and discussing effective alternatives with the governmental officials to increase the wellbeing of people in both countries, and not just passing immigration laws like Arizona’s.
Fear tactics over smart design.. you’re stepping backwards US.