Immigrant Law Hits Raw Nerve

The uproar over Arizona cracking down on illegal immigrants boils down to this: The state wants to enforce its own version of federal law and, as a consequence, discourage employment of illegals in America. We should applaud this effort, not condemn it, in the broader sense.

Arizona Senate Bill 1070, as amended, requires local and state law enforcement to question people about their immigration status if there's reason to suspect they're in the country illegally, and makes it a state crime to be in the United States illegally. The questions would follow a law enforcement officer's stopping, detaining or arresting a person while enforcing another law, the Associated Press reports.

With the exception of one senator, the entire Arizona Republican legislative delegation voted for the original bill signed by GOP Gov. Jan Brewer, who insisted racial profiling would not be tolerated in the Grand Canyon State.

If opponents can gather enough signatures to force a referendum, the law might not go into effect for years. Lawsuits challenging the sweeping measure already have been filed. For now, the law and its amendments will take effect July 29 unless blocked by a court or referendum filing, according to the AP.

Some argue the bill is a thinly veiled endorsement of racial profiling, presumably of illegal immigrants from neighboring Mexico. Under the measure, authorities could demand papers from you if you’re suspected of being illegal.

Arizona’s tough new law has brought the immigration issue to the forefront, with representatives at three levels of California government calling for economic measures against their neighbor, the AP reports.

There's a feeling, proponents of the boycotts say, that acting against Arizona will be a wake-up call to Arizona citizens and will discourage other states from enacting similar laws, according to the AP.

“This is a draconian enforcement approach that, if expanded [to] other states, would have a crippling effect on the entire national economy,” says Raul Hinjosa-Ojeda, an associate professor of Chicana/Chicano studies at UCLA who researches the economics of immigration. “The general public is going to see the negative effect this has on the business community and will begin asking themselves, ‘Do we really understand what our legislature just did? Is this really worth the cost?' ”

Does racial profiling exist in the United States? Yes, and it rightfully has been addressed in places such as New Jersey, where state police were investigated for stopping minorities on the highways.

Arizona, unlike tiny New Jersey, shares a large border with another country whose populace seeks a better way of life in a nearby land of opportunity. There’s nothing wrong with that because millions of immigrants to America, from countries around the globe, have sought the same thing for generations.

But here’s the major problem: Mexicans are illegally entering the United States and working here with the aid of unethical American employers seeking cheap labor. In theory, those jobs could go to Americans, including Hispanics who immigrated legally. While some claim our citizens would snub low wages, it’s not a stretch to see how that might not apply with the U.S. unemployment rate hovering around 10 percent.

Others argue the loss of immigrant labor would hurt American business. How? Who needs an employer who ignores federal law by hiring cheap but illegal labor? Two wrongs don’t make a right.

Unless you’ve lived in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas, it may be difficult to fully grasp the extent of the illegal immigrant problem and why Arizona has taken such a dramatic step.


“The state (population 6,595,778) has an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants,’’ writes syndicated Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen. “It also has a porous border with Mexico, and there is an understandable nervousness over the drug-fueled mayhem that is taking place in that country almost daily, some of it spilling back into Arizona. The people of this state are not totally crazy. They are merely misguided and scared. An amazing 70 percent of them support the new law.’’

While noting President Obama has denounced the law, Cohen adds: “… the Obama administration had better pay attention to the conditions that produced this law. In a way, another tea party movement has emerged — a scream of pain and anger from a constituency that has seen immigration laws turn meaningless and the impotence of the government flaunted on a daily basis.’’

Protests, lawsuits, boycotts, politics, and profiling charges aside: What’s wrong with the idea of securing our borders and having folks follow rules to legally immigrate here? What’s wrong with penalizing American employers who knowingly employ illegals?


Forget the Hispanic race card some use for personal advantage. America always was a melting pot of cultures since its founding; it’s one of our major strengths as a nation. My grandfather and father emigrated here from Italy; my mother’s family came from Ireland.

“Estimates of the number of undocumented immigrants currently in Houston range into the hundreds of thousands,’’ the Houston Chronicle writes in an editorial. “They have become an integral part of our economy, and their children, many of them U.S. citizens born here, attend public schools.

“Something like SB 1070 would rip the economic and social fabric of Houston and divide existing communities. Instead, our federal lawmakers should be crafting statutes that secure our borders while providing those already here a route to become permanent, legal contributors to city and state,’’ the Chronicle says.

A purist might argue this whole immigration debate amounts to a battle over individual states’ rights vs. big federal government. Arizona’s citizens seem be saying if the U.S. government won’t enforce its immigration laws, then it’s up to the states. This is not vigilantism or racism, just governing, period.

Maybe we should listen to the message, instead of condemning the messenger.

As for me, I practice what I preach at writenowworks.com.