Dear Noisy Dove,
The recently passed illegal immigration law in Arizona is apparently supported by 70% of the state’s voters, yet President Obama in a public ceremony called the bill, and so the people, misguided. He spoke generally of a different kind of reform needed. What sort would that be? …other than writing out a US birth certificate for anyone who wants one.
Obama is part of a group that doesn’t like that illegal immigration is illegal. (this group also likes to scare Latinos and other minorities away from the Republican vote) Instead of trying to make wander-in immigration legal, Obama’s group over the years has made enforcing immigration laws exceedingly difficult – that’s why illegal immigration is so popular among immigrants.
Arizona’s new law simply makes illegal immigration illegal under Arizona law, and requires officers to check citizenship status if there is probable cause to believe a suspect is an illegal immigrant. So essentially this law is undoing Progressive efforts to make a law they don’t agree with unenforceable. Obama doesn’t like that so he’s propped up one of his Straw Men again.
Obama can’t argue the logic of the law. AZ has half a million illegal immigrants and the number is growing while Mexican drug violence is seeping over the border. Schools are crowded and hurting for funds while parents are unemployed or under employed watching debt and taxes rise and incomes fall. And the Federal government refuses to secure the border. What does he expect a border State to do?
Obama’s Straw Man in this case is the usual Liberal argument against most anything they can’t counter logically: Racial. He calls it irresponsible and misguided – something that will: “undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe.”
What I call irresponsible is an insecure border that leaks thousands of illegal immigrants per day. What’s misguided is hampering law enforcement because you disagree with a law. One notion of fairness that many Americans cherish – especially legal immigrants – is the notion that anyone can become an American if they’re willing to go through the process. (not many countries allow this). And one thing that undermines trust between police and their communities is overburdening the police with hundreds of unidentifiable people entering those communities on a daily basis and then limiting how police can go about enforcing laws that are clearly and blatantly being broken.
Fundamentally, I think it’s lofty, arrogant, and un-American for the Federal government to tell a border state how it should or shouldn’t enforce immigration laws, within reason. And within reason, there is no smaller thing one can do to enforce immigration law than to require a police officer to check citizenship status when that officer has serious reason to question citizenship.
Obama also argues that this law is an example of why the Fed needs to pass immigration reform – to prevent more state laws from appearing that make a Federal law also a State law and require State enforcement. This would be a sound argument – although contradictory – if he were planning anything more than a soft political give-away.
What needs to happen first is our borders need to be secured. Right now this will require the National Guard, and is an optimal job for them. I would have disagreed with this a few years ago. Militarizing the border between us and one of our closest allies is bad for relations, and just looks jackassish. But things are getting serious. Ranchers have trash laden paths through their property and some are taking border security into their own hands. Mexico is fighting what is essentially an insurgency, which is coming over our weak border. And of course, we have unidentifiable people and illegal drugs poring through.
Long term, a serious barrier needs to be constructed. The border fence idea was good, but the contractors screwed
it up. Regardless, a triple barrier with a road running down it would be ideal, along with ever improving surveillance equipment. It doesn’t matter how well you’re catching illegals if they’re pouring back in just as fast.
Next would be dealing with the current illegal immigrants. Now, I understand Amnesty is a bad word. But seriously, a society like ours, in most cases, is going to offer some type of stream-lined path to established illegal immigrants, it just is, that’s just how we are. The key to amnesty not breaking our society down is to observe step 1: Secure the borders.
Once the border is secure, and the current illegals are given amnesty or shipped off, we can then look at current immigration law. According to many farmers – for example – migrant workers are essential to their business. These workers are often undocumented and the jobs they do won’t be had by citizens. So certainly, a migrant worker program could be helpful.
The path to citizenship could also be examined, because bottom line, when people are literally risking life and limb to get here with the purpose of building a better and honest life, the legal path should be at least competitive with the shark-infested and 50-mile-desert-walk options.
As for the Arizona law’s probable affect, I agree with Squab Dove:
I say let’s see the arizona law in practice and see if the proof is in the pudding. Maybe this new law will be really effective. Maybe totally useless. who knows. AT LEAST Arizona is bucking up and doing something. They are taking charge, as they should be. Its good not to rely on the fed too much. I think we need the states taking matters into their own hands more. This is different though to some degree because it is the national border and hence a matter of national security. So the fed should be asking Arizona what they need and how the fed can support their efforts to secure the border, not calling them misguided and offering shit on a stick as an alternate solution, or worse, amnesty…
Instead of vilifying AZ and talking about irresponsibility and boycotts for one’s own personal political gain, one should embrace such ideas as part of the 50 laboratories of democracy, freedom, and prosperity we have here – one of our greatest and least utilized strengths. And after implementation, let’s be honest about the results. *cynical laugh*
Something has to be done, and what has to be done isn’t going to be soft or pretty and will require more than creating new bureaucracy and shoveling more money – which is all this Leftist Congress will do.
And listen – Republicans – take it easy on this one. Don’t go getting all blustered over amnesty. Who cares, seriously. The Latino voting block is a perfect fit under the Republican tenants. Don’t let the Liberals paint you as anti-Latino bigots. They’re already picking recent immigrants off with all these lofty entitlement promises. In other words, if you need political points in your district, and you have Latinos, don’t hammer on amnesty. The key is border security and only hippies and modern Socialists will argue with that.
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Raging Kitty