Arizona is at ground zero of our broken immigration system. As the state receiving the largest number of immigrants across our border, it's no wonder that Arizonans are frustrated by the vacuum of leadership coming from the Federal government. The courts have decided it's a Federal problem, but Congress has yet to deliver a comprehensive immigration solution. People are frustrated and want action.
Action feels good. We see a problem and we want to fix it. We write and pass laws that seem like they'll do the trick: punish people who break our laws; deport people who don't belong here. Except sometimes what looks good and feels good, isn't always good. We end up with reactionary laws that waste precious resources and do nothing to address the source of the problem.
The so-called "Safe Neighborhoods" legislation is such a bill. It's the kind of misguided legislation that gets passed every election year. Most legislators -- including Senator John McCain -- know the bill won't solve a thing. They know it will cost our state resources we don't have. They know it could wreak havoc in our communities and lead to the kind of racial profiling our country left behind years ago. But they vote for these kinds of bills because they think it will make people feel better.
It won't. Instead, this bill will cause a whole new host of problems, particularly for Arizona's law enforcement officials. And it will create an environment of panic and fear throughout the entire Latino community.
If signed into law, the bill would shift the burden of enforcing immigration laws onto the shoulders of cash-strapped local police departments who cannot afford unfunded enforcement-only mandates. It would exacerbate community tensions and undermine community policing and public safety by making immigrants afraid to cooperate in police investigations.
Most tragic of all, the state would be forced to waste millions to defend itself against the civil rights lawsuits that will rightfully follow. Similar ill-advised anti-immigrant laws in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Texas have been struck down by the courts at great expense to taxpayers. With a record budget deficit, does Arizona really need to spend another dime on enforcement strategies that will do nothing to solve our immigration crisis?
We need comprehensive immigration reform that will eliminate the underground economy by getting undocumented immigrants into the system, paying fines, back taxes, learning English, and getting on local, state and federal tax rolls. We need reform that will truly end illegal immigration and hold bad-actor employers responsible for depressing wages and violating the right to a safe worksite for all workers.
However, instead of finding practical solutions to move us forward, Arizona's attention is focused on political drama. Will Governor Brewer play the same old game of demonizing immigrants to score cheap political points? Will she waste taxpayer funds and turn Arizona into ground zero for anti-immigrant hate? Or will she take a higher road that puts smart policy and the needs of all Arizonans ahead of petty politics?
Scott Washburn is State Director of SEIU Arizona. The union represents public service employees in Tempe, Chandler, Gilbert, Pima County and the State of Arizona.
Clarissa Martinez De Castro: We Need Progress, Not Profiling in Arizona
about by driving the exploiter out of our communities, our pueblos, and our lands."
The exploiter, of course, is non-Hispanic America. "Lands rightfully ours will
be fought for and defended." http://www.rense.com/general31/over.htm
They also want money, "Restitution for past economic slavery, political
exploitation, ethnic, cultural and psychological destruction and denial of
civil and human rights." So we now have an Hispanic version of reparations.
"For the very young there will no longer be acts of juvenile delinquency,
but revolutionary acts." Mug an elderly white lady and become a revolutionary?
Chicanos already have their own nation within our nation. Maria Hsia Chang,
Professor of Political Science, University of Nevada, Reno, notes in her paper,
Multiculturalism, Immigration and Aztlan: "Today, there are reasons to believe
that Chicanos as a group are unlike previous immigrants in that they are more
likely to remain unassimilated and unintegrated, whether by choice or
circumstance-resulting in the formation of a separate quasi-nation within
the United States."
Liberty is a monument dedicated to freedom and liberty. She never meant that
foreigners have the right to violate America's immigration laws
What "half of the United States" did Mexico ever 'own"? The part east of the
Mississippi was "owned" by the Indians. The part between the Mississippi and
the Rockies was "owned" by France--we purchased it from them (Louisiana Purchase).
And the part north of California was variously "owned" by Indians, or Russia,
or France.
First, nobody is indigenous to America. Even the ancestors of the American
Indian migrated across the Aleutians through what is now Alaska, and Canada.
Some migrated farther south into Central and South America. But all human
life--probably all animal life--on this continent has descended from immigrants.
not Mexico.. The Spanish pretty much obliterated the Mayan civilization.
Eventually they took over Central America. Spain sent missionaries up the
California coast to establish Missions. Spain seemed to believe that gave
them some right of possession and so Spanish land grants were provided to a
few who were willing to try to work the new country. These were Spanish land
grants, not Mexican. Mexico is no longer part of Spain. They have no reasonable
right to claim to anything to which Spain may at one time laid claim.
But illegals (not "Mexicans") don't care about facts. The want to break our
laws and be rewarded for it. And they'll use any excuse no matter how irrational,
incongruous, or nonsensical, that seems to suit their purpose.
There is obviously a large and significant gap between the attitudes of
Americans and Mexicans. While most Americans want immigration reduced, most
Mexicans think they don't even need permission to enter our country. The poll
clearly shows there is less common ground for immigration negotiations between
Mexico and the U.S. than the leaders think. Support for a porous border and a
loose migration policy occurs only on the Mexican side, not in the U.S."
oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants. The U.S. portion of the survey was conducted
of 1,015 likely voters in the U.S. from Mar 28 to Mar 30. It found that 65
percent disagree with the statement, "foreigners residing illegally in the U.S.
should be given amnesty." Just 26 percent of likely voters support amnesty for
illegals, while 9 percent are unsure.
A large majority, 60 percent, agree that the U.S. should "admit fewer immigrants
each year." Only 6 percent want "more immigrants each year," and 30 percent want
to "keep immigration at the current annual levels."
The single largest majority in the entire poll was found among Americans supporting
use of the military to guard the border. Fully 68 percent of those surveyed agree
with the statement, "the U.S. should deploy military troops on the border as a
temporary measure to help the U.S. Border Patrol curb illegal immigration." Only
28 percent disagree, and 3 percent are unsure.
I look more mexican than a mexican. Profiling has been going on my whole life.Because of Mexicans.If I get stopped I know why; now I just laugh it off.
Arizona do what ever it takes to stop them. I hope it works but dont hold your breath.
Last American CraftsmanTM.
Arizona's new concealed carry law just stripped away the requirement for permits, among other things like background checks and training, without considering the amount of revenue that would be generated from all of the gun owners paying for permits.
Arizona's legislature is comprised of some very strange characters.
The best way of cutting the problem down is make immigrating legally more desirable and cheaper than illegally. Many illegals are smuggled in by "mules"...and these mules often charge several thousand dollars to do little more than lead you through the desert to a "hole in the fence" or hide you in some means of ground transporation across the border. Many illegals die on their way here from a number of reasons to escape detection...Why not cut out the "mule" and simply make entry legal by charging $1,500 per adult and $500 per child to do it legally? Why not establish a mechanism where you can actually go and establish an "immigration account" that you can legally put money into until you have enough to pay the entry fees? Once the fees are paid you are given authority to enter...no need to pay more to a "mule" to bring you in illegally and run the risk of being caught, deported and losing the money you paid. Pay less to get in by paying the US its entry fee and being "legal" from the start...Of course there will be more to it than just pay and enter but when you make it cheaper and easier to enter legally than illegally, you will get more chosing "legal" than illegal.
Coyotes are the human smugglers.
"We need comprehensive immigration reform that will eliminate the underground economy by getting undocumented immigrants into the system, paying fines, back taxes, learning English, and getting on local, state and federal tax rolls. We need reform that will truly end illegal immigration and hold bad-actor employers responsible for depressing wages and violating the right to a safe worksite for all workers."
Look what it says in the first sentence "undocumented immigrants into the system" Paying fines, back taxes, getting in local state and federal tax rolls. Basically making them citizens...so how did I twist words?
doing the same old thing in arizona, just doing more of it, will not lead to a different result this time either.
a new approach is needed.
how about:
find and fine or shut down the people who employ illegals.
trust me, the employers know very well that the workers they employ are illegals, but nothing ever happens to the employers. they just find another illegal worker tomorrow.