They report the same shit over and over again, but just talk to new ‘experts’ every hour to make it seem like there are new developments in the story when, of course, there never are.
In a fortuitous bit of luck (from a blog writing standpoint), my CNN experience coincided directly with the signing of Arizona’s harsh new immigration law that has the United States divided. I watched a boatload of coverage on this issue, thought about it over the last week or so, and, now, have finally decided to weigh in with my opinion.
Illegal immigration is a huge problem in border states such as Arizona. The first draft of this law gave local law enforcement the ability to ask anyone they suspected of being an illegal immigrant (i.e. non-white) to see their immigration papers to ensure they were in Arizona legally.
In a perfect world, such a law should be able to work as the police force would only question people engaged in duplicitous behaviour or who ‘looked illegal’; they wouldn’t bother to question a native-born Hispanic family of four out grocery shopping.
But, then you have a problem of what constitutes ‘looking illegal’? What does that even mean? Surely, one man’s definition would be completely different from another’s. There is no black and white (pardon the pun) definition on the matter. There is too much room for interpretation and the opportunity for police to hassle legal residents purely because of the colour of the skin.
Plus, the Nazis tried to do a similar thing with the Jews in World War II and we all know how well that turned out. It’s a very dangerous precedent the Arizona government is trying to set with this divisive piece of legislation.
While I don’t agree with the first draft of this law, I was not pleased with how quickly the majority of the nation (many of whom do not have to deal with the problems of illegal immigration) were so quick to blast Arizona and talk idiotically about boycotting the state.
There is a reason such a proposal was put forth in the first place. Residents of Arizona are fed up with the problems of illegal immigrants. Can you imagine living in a border town and having illegal immigrants drag guns and drugs across your property? Or have them break into your house to steal money and food? Or engage in shootouts with border patrol agents footsteps from your front door?
Let’s not be so quick to condemn Arizonans until we’ve had a chance to take a walk in their shoes.
I love the amendment to the law, which states that police can only ask to see immigration papers if a person is caught doing something illegal (from breaking and entering to a minor traffic violation). What I don’t understand is how this is not a law already. Does this mean that, prior to two weeks ago, you could be an illegal immigrant arrested in Arizona and not have to prove US citizenship? That seems preposterous.
People are still claiming this law is discriminatory. Yeah? Well don’t break the law and you won’t be forced to prove your citizenship. Case closed.
I saw one story on CNN where a 21 year old college student was arrested for a minor misdemeanour and she was found to be an illegal immigrant and thus faces deportation. Social groups are up in arms that police should be focusing on catching drug smugglers instead of hassling this girl. Ideally, you would love for that happen, but the fact is she’s an illegal immigrant. Just because she’s not ‘a bad one’ doesn’t mean she’s not still breaking the law.
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1 comment:
Wow Tewks watching grown up TV. I thought I felt a disturbance in the Universe.
Like most things in the Western hemisphere the immigration issue boils down to money. The reason the US as a whole hasn’t take a strong stance on this is economic. The simple fact of the matter is there are millions of illegal immigrants working in the US for a few $’s a day. If they were to be replaced by citizens earning at least minimum wage it would devastate the American economy which in turn would impact the rest of the world. For example the vast majority, I have heard it report as much as 75% or more, of our produce in NA during the winter comes from these border states especially California and almost 100% of the labour that is used is illegal immigrants. People don’t like the immigration issue, but they like the idea of having to pay considerably more for their food even less.
Go ahead and call me all the names you want and say I am hugging trees again, but I believe we should also put ourselves in the place of those sneaking across the border. Not just those living in Arizona. While I don’t disagree with what you said in terms of if you are there illegally and they catch you then you get sent back. They are fully aware that they there illegally. However, not all are drug dealers any more than all baseball players are stupid jocks who can barely read. There must be a least some baseball players who can read higher than a 4th grade level. The vast majority of illegals are people who are just trying to provide for their families. If your children were starving and your only option to feed them was to sneak across the US border and work for a few $ a day so they could eat wouldn’t you consider it? Until you really know what it is like to live in such abject poverty you can’t know what you would be willing to do. That doesn’t give them right to illegally enter the country, but it is certainly understandable why they do no matter what the consequences. If you really want stop the problem of the majority of those who sneak across you need to address the real issue of why they are doing it. They need to be provided with opportunities at home so they don’t need to leave. Otherwise nothing will change. To fix a problem you need to address the root cause. Just using brute force will fail.
AG
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