New Arizona Immigration Law a Disgrace to the Constitution
Posted by Jason Ihle | 5 Comments
In my zeal for the stories and excitement over my new blog, I forgot that I had intended to continue cross-posting non movie related stories to American Madness. So here’s the first in a series of posts from this week.
This has been expected for some time now, but Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona has just signed into law an immigration bill that, among other things, will make it a legal requirement for all immigrants to carry their documentation and give law enforcement broad power to enforce it.
The crux of the bill relates to employment, trafficking and transportation of illegal immigrants. But the provision (the first section of the bill) that has a lot of people in a tizzy (including President Obama) is the new power bestowed upon the police.
Not to worry, however. Governor Brewer is aware of the potential for abuse of power:
She said that racial profiling would not be tolerated, adding, “We have to trust our law enforcement.”
She completely misses the point of how authoritarianism is born. The idea of a free society is that the people have inalienable rights that are neither granted them nor controlled by the government. These rights belong to the people. We trust law enforcement because we the people have the power. When you give too much power to the police, the door to distrust is thrust open and somewhere the power will be abused.
Here’s another bit that caught my attention:
It requires police officers “when practicable” to detain people they reasonably suspect are in the country without authorization and to verify their status with federal officials, unless doing so would hinder an investigation or emergency medical treatment.
This is giving way too much wiggle room to law enforcement, it seems to me. What is a reasonable suspicion that someone is in the country illegally? How many legal and documented immigrants (not to mention both naturalized AND natural born citizens) do you think will be asked for “zeir papuhz pleaz”? I’m no friend to the Catholic Church at the moment, so you know something’s amiss when I’m in perfect agreement with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
I know what people like my Dad would say: “If you’re not doing anything wrong you’ve got nothing to hide.” A very easy thing for a white man to say when he’ll never have to put up with the kind of police harassment that is sure to be reported when this law takes effect later this year. What happens to citizens who aren’t required to carry ID, yet “look like” immigrants? Will those people, unable to cough up a birth certificate or US passport on demand be detained and held in county jail until such documents can be produced?
Surely it’s no accident that this piece of legislation was signed into law on Trash Day, a day when unpopular news gets dumped so fewer people will pay attention.
I’m not hyperventilating about this law. I have full confidence that it will be swiftly challenged and struck down in court. But I do think it’s worth paying attention to and recognizing that the kind of thinking that completely misunderstands the Constitution and would seek to undermine it for personal gain continues to pervade. Don’t travel to Arizona as long as this law is on the books. Don’t give them the satisfaction of your tourist dollars.
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April 29th, 2010 @
I subscribe to the philosophy, espoused by Jim Rodgers in “Adventure Capitalist”, that the people who would give up there likelihood and risk their lives to work in the U.S. are the exactly the kind of people we need in this country.
Immigration laws are ridiculous. They waste time, are not effective and ultimately only likely cause insurrection. Way to go guys!
And I’m not restricting my commentary to the latest iteration in Arizona. I’m also talking about the kind of legislative ignorance mandated by Congress enforcing artificial limits on the number of HB-1 visas we issue every year. Let me get this straight. More doctors and scientists want to come to this country, and we restrict them. How does this make sense?
My vote is to abolish all laws restricting the flow of people across our borders. Instead, let’s hand out Tax ID numbers at the border, and find a way to derive income from the wages of immigrants. Let’s also use this flood of people to open up manufacturing centers in border communities. Allow people to flow freely between Mexico and the U.S., so that they may live in one country and work in another. Why do we have this 19th century view of the world that borders actually keep people away? We’re talking about building a bridge over a river. If it were convenient enough, Mexican workers would happily cross over every morning for an opportunity to work for higher wages, under better conditions, with a chance to rise through the workforce. At the end of the day, they can return home to their families, with a higher quality of life than they may enjoy if their job prospects are confined to our southern neighbor.
April 29th, 2010 @
Well, Eric, as much as I would like to agree with your pie-in-the-sky view of immigration (and believe me, I believe in a much more lax immigration policy and procedures. Especially in light of what I have to go through to bring my wife to the United States to work) a completely open border allowing absolutely anyone in to live and work legally who wants to would create a massive influx of such as we’ve never seen.
Consider that it’s very likely that the number who cross the border under dangerous conditions (see my review of Sin Nombre at movielistmania.blogspot.com) is only a percentage of the people who would cross the border if it were legal and less dangerous. Not to mention the people from continents other than South America. Having immigration restrictions makes sense.
Okay, you may have a point on the visas for well-educated professionals. But I wonder if we even reach that quota. It’s more or less a rubber stamp approval for people in those positions. It’s actually a lot more complicated for someone married to an American citizen (Sandra, my wife, for example) to get a visa than a doctor or business person.
For the record, it’s a two stage process (first with Dept. of Homeland Sec. and then with State Dept.) with a total cost of near $1000 in fees and a total wait time of about 1 year if everything goes smoothly for my wife to get permanent residence (a Green Card).
April 30th, 2010 @
Jason,
True there would be an influx of people, but doubtful it would be detrimental to our country. Proximity to family is a powerful force in Mexican culture. If we established employment opportunities close to the border, with a free flow of people, most workers would choose to stay nearby their families. In turn, they would flood their homeland with capital, that would turn more people away from illegitimate pursuits such as the drug trade. A working class population boom in cities such as Nuevo Laredo would help eliminate the drug terrors which is destroying that city, as more money in the local economy would provide for better protection and less corruptible officials.
Immigration of the type I’ve listed above must be limitless, otherwise we risk quotas being put into place by politicians motivated by non-economic factors. The biggest beneficiary of my proposed scheme would be Texas and California, where ample population centers exist in their cross-border city counterparts. It is unlikely northern states would appreciate industry flooding to these regions were cheap human labor would be plentiful. Thus, quotas put into place to protect “American jobs” or other nonsense politicians like to spout to ensure re-election from their local constituents.
The benefits would be tremendous. American companies would be motivated to manufacture more goods at these centers, as the cost-benefit of shipping cheap shit from China would quickly diminish. Thus, I think our nation would net benefit from an influx of willing workers. Perhaps we can call it pie-in-the-sky, as political realities make such a world difficult to achieve, but I don’t think it would necessarily be detrimental.
April 30th, 2010 @
Foreign Policy Magazine put together a slideshow of the 5 countries with the worst immigration laws:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/04/29/the_world_s_worst_immigration_laws
April 30th, 2010 @
I knew about the Italian and Swiss immigration policies. My favorite one is the proposed bill in Switzerland that would deport the parents of any minor child who commits a crime. Fucking incredible, really.
But keep in mind this is the same country that makes it virtually impossible for an immigrant or an immigrant’s children (born in Switzerland) to become citizens. My wife was born and raised in Switzerland and very foolishly didn’t get her Swiss citizenship when she was 18. Then she moved to Spain and by staying out of the country for too long, she would now have to be there 5 years (I think) to get citizenship. Okay, it’s her own fault for failing to do it at the time, but it’s pretty incredible that she was born there, raised there, educated there, has a huge portion of family and friends there and she’s not a full member of the community.