Arizona's Hot Potato Immigration Bill of April 2010

Arizona’s Hot Potato Immigration Law

(Senate Bill 1070)

In case you were under a rock somewhere safe while hiding from the strong winds that has been blowing all over the US of A, you may have missed watching or reading in the news that the Arizona Senate has just passed an immigration bill which Arizona Governor Jan Brewer have just signed into law that made it the toughest illegal immigration bill in the whole country to date.

To take a look at this bill click here.

Now Illegal Immigration and Immigration Reform has always been a hot American potato, well as it should be.

But recent budget balancing woes of American families, American companies, American cities, American counties, American states and the Federal government have led to too many bankruptcies, loan defaults, foreclosures, lost jobs and now new tough measures to help solve or to at least stem the tide.

Now let’s be honest here, I know that immigration always have a special place in every American’s heart, be them staying in the country, temporarily, permanently, legally or otherwise.

And we know that people will always have strong feelings and viewpoints regarding immigration reform. But in the face of the failure of the federal government, counties and cities to balance their budgets, to provide jobs to the burgeoning number of unemployed and underemployed, to stop the lay-offs of teachers, library workers, general service workers, fire fighters and other federal, county and other collaterally damaged hard working employees, it would be not unfathomable to imagine that these budget balancers the people have elected will eventually touch on the last seemingly untouchable segment of American society--illegal immigrants.

And let us please calm down for a minute here, I know when people say illegal immigrants, it shouldn’t be and it mustn’t be just one people or culture. Illegal Immigrants should be faceless, shapeless and colorless as we do have illegal immigrants coming from Canada in the North, Hispanics in the South, Europeans and Africans from the East and Asians, Australians and Pacific Islanders from the West. Sorry if I miss any other race, for this issue shouldn’t really be racial, even though we know that it always does.

Now, if our so-called budget planners and budget balancers would have started with making lawbreakers (legal or otherwise) including habitual vandals, juvenile delinquents, truants, runaways, troublemakers as well as career criminals to pay for their paperwork, human resource, food and medical costs as well as their accommodation stay at the city, county, state and federal penitentiaries then that would have been a more acceptable “hot potato” than a tough illegal immigration bill.

And why shouldn’t they share or foot the bill to begin with when cities have already cut health and dental care, cut school days, cut library days and eliminated much needed funding for many of the nation’s children who do follow the law, go to school and try to be productive residents (legal or otherwise) of the United States of America.

Now, why shouldn't people (regardless of what they look and sound like) who have committed a crime or have broken a law be asked to produce a valid identification or any other supporting paper to identify them as who they say they are? And why wouldn't law enforcers in the face of holding a person who have broken a law (regardless of creed or color) hold on to such as person until they could be able to determine or establish who they really are or if they really are who they say they are? And it looks to me that, this may be what this new bill is really after, except of course we have no answer to the potential racial profiling issue thrown against it as of course as I have said most anything we think about to effect immigration reform will almost always be an issue of race.

But now whatever our stand is on a tough illegal immigration bill such as this new one, we should at least be aware that all segments of the American society should now do their share to bring many American cities and counties back to their feet and reduce all these collateral damage we have been seeing and experiencing so far (legal or otherwise).

And although many people would not want to admit it, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion Poll suggests that a big majority of those polled are in favor of this New Arizona hot potato bill.

And it is indeed hot, as President Obama as well as many other State Governors, City Mayors and Law Makers everywhere have protested it. I do hope they have already eliminated the collateral damage to their home turfs before they even want to start to fix those who may be suffering in Arizona (a special shoutout to California's Governor and lawmakers, and LA's Mayor).

Online PDF

Source:

http://www.visioncritical.com

Poll Data

Making it a crime to transport someone who is an illegal immigrant

Support Oppose Not sure

76%    18%    6%

Requiring state and local police to determine the status of a person if there is "reasonable suspicion" that they are illegal immigrants

Support Oppose Not sure

71%    22%    7%

Arresting people who are unable to provide documentation to prove they are in the U.S. legally

Support Oppose Not sure

71%    23%    6%

Making it a crime to hire day labourers off the street

Support Oppose Not sure

53%    39%    8%

Source: Angus Reid Public Opinion
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,002 American adults, conducted on Apr. 22 and Apr. 23, 2010. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.