Monday, April 26, 2010

Arizona and the Invasion

As I have watched many of the actions of the Imperial Federal Government over the years slowly strip states of their rights (through either restrictive legislation, or more likely, the carrot/stick approach on funding), one thing the feds have consistently pissed away, and is actually a role the federal government, is dealing with the issue of illegal immigration.

Enter the border state of Arizona.  Last week, they passed legislation that, in essence, takes a federal responsibility and makes it a state one.

Now, the Obama administration and the Imperial Congress, in an attempt to get the control they just lost back and gain more control of one of those "minority voter blocs" that gets them reelected, have not only condemned the state law, but are making a push for immigration "reform" (read as "amnesty").

Now I'm not going to go into too much detail on the law, as everyone is either praising it as the only answer ever or condemning it as the return of the Soviet Union.  Like most things, the answer is probably somewhere in between, like the horribly vilified, but mostly intact (under Obama now) Patriot Act.  More on that in a minute.

The fact is that this law (like the aforementioned Patriot Act) is a reaction to a problem.  So let's start with defining the problem.  And that problem is that we have a porous, chaotic, and violent southern border, no clear enforcement on immigration policy, a border country that encourages border jumping (and has assloads of corrupt police), a vibrant (and increasingly violent) illegal drug trade, a better lifestyle for the poor here than the average person there, and a history of inconsistency, lax regulation, and periodic amnesty.

In short, the federal government really hasn't done anything to solve the problems, and has actually made them worse.  So what do you do when the feds consistently fail to do what they're supposed to do.  You take on the responsibility your damn self.  And that's what Arizona did, making it a state law and a local law enforcement duty to find out if suspected illegals were illegal.

Now as to the law, I haven't studied the exact language, so I'm not going to render an absolutist opinion.  I think it was most certainly a necessary law to pass.  But, like the Patriot Act, there might be provisions that are open to abuse, and there may be things that are unconstitutional.  I'll leave that to the courts to sort out.  As for the feds not cooperating?  That's why they passed the law in the first place.

And as for the race whores (including the thoroughly non-Hispanic Al Sharpton) as well as the amnesty crowd, you halfwits are a joke.  You wouldn't even have a law to vent over in Arizona if it wasn't that race crap that prevented Washington, in its never ending pursuit of votes and cash, from failing to ignore dumb shit and actually apply the laws as written.

Of course, the biggest victims are in Arizona.  It's the people who have seen the destruction and chaos in their own towns that this joke of an immigration policy has wrought.  It's all the legal immigrants, who bring wonderful cultures (and kickass food) into this melting pot of a country.  And it's even a large number of the illegals, who are right in wanting to come to America for opportunities they'd never get in their shithole countries, but horribly wrong in how they go about it, and live with a constantly changing social and political landscape.

In the end, this situation is the doing of people that have no will to be hard but fair.  And it's the continued obstruction of those asshats that will make getting this law cleaned up and applied fairly a nearly impossible task.  So when it falls short, or some court tosses out the baby with the bath water, we'll be back where we started, facing a continued invasion.  Oh well, at least they'll probably get health care at some point....

7 comments:

Dave Miller said...

Patrick, here is part of the answer as to why we have a problem.

Both sides are desirous of scoring political points off the issue.

Witness the title of Mikes America post, "Why does Obama not take border security seriously?"

To my knowledge, the Obama Admin has not put forth their plan yet.

However the Bush Admin did in fact endorse a immigration reform bill that included, in part, some form of, depending on who you talk to, amnesty.

Did our esteemed GOP supporting friend write a post with this type of inflammatory title then?

No.

Let's score points rather than work towards solutions.

Satyavati devi dasi said...

The problem with this bill is that it opens the door for all kinds of abuses.

If one of my Estonian or Macedonian or French friends (who are here with possibly dubious green cards, I don't ask and they don't tell) were to wander the streets of Arizona, not a one of them would be stopped, asked, investigated or anything else.

If my friend from Mexico, who's here legally, walked around in Arizona, there's a terribly good chance she would be. Stopped, asked, investigated and everything else.

That's the problem with this. If you don't like the way someone looks, you're free to do all this shit to them. It doesn't address shit fairly.

Granted, how many Estonian immigrants are here illegally? Not actually the point. The point is that the law is pretty much targeting people who aren't white and speak with an accent.

It just leaves too many holes open for abuse.

Dave Miller said...

Saty, you may like my post on this.

Patrick, before you say no one will be targeted just because they lok a certain way, remember Congressman Bibray of California said that we could tell simply by looking who was an illegal.

dmarks said...

SDD: Great point on the Macedonians/etc. Now under this Arizona law, it is conceivable that Native Americans who happen to look kinda Mexican might be confronted.

"Go back to your country!"

Patrick M said...

Dave (and Saty to a lesser extent): That's why I didn't jump on the yay bandwagon for this law. Because it's going to have law enforcement in a much more active role in enforcing immigration policy, I welcome some legal challenges to make sure the law is tight. Furthermore, it's a law that does require some vigilance over how it is enforced. And if it does turn into a "shake down the Latinos" law, I'll be glad to join in calling for its repeal. But my understanding so far (which I'm going to get increased soon by reading the actual bill, as I have another post in mind over this) is that 1. police have to have a lawful reason to engage the person before they can check legality, 2. a valid AZ drivers license is proof enough, and 3. there's no imposition on people here legally because they're supposed to carry their green cards 24/7 anyway (according to federal law). Under those guidelines, I'm not seeing the problem here. But like I said, I still have to look at the actual law.

Toad734 said...

Not once did you, or has the Arizona bill mentioned the real problem which is the companies who are hiring these people. Sure there are the people who come across the border and start their own businesses and those who deal in drugs as their business but most of them are coming for the jobs. So instead of going after the rich white people who are hiring these people and enticing them to come here in the first place (well, other than our corn subsidies which put mexican farmers out of business and us draining their water supply from the Rio Grande to water the lawns of Phoenix suburbs) Arizona gives the right of law enforcement to legally use racial profiling as a means of them doing the job of immigration officials.

It's like trying to deal with a leaking dam with a mop instead of fixing the crack.

dmarks said...

"So instead of going after the rich white people..."

Toad the racist appears, showing that there is racism on the issue on the other end. Never mind the fact that rich people of all colors like to hire the best workers. And the fact that a whole lot of small businesses hire illegal aliens too. Small business owners aren't rich, unless you are Obama and declare that small business people are all over-advantaged and should "share the wealth" with rich ruling elites.

And sometimes Mexicans do jobs better than Americans do. That's really much of what is going on.