As a few days have passed since the passing of Arizona’s new law on immigration, I feel it necessary to bring light on the subject from a slightly different perspective. There has been a lot of talk about the constitutionality of this law and how Arizona could have done such a horrible thing. However, when one truly examines this law (not that I have read the entire law) I strongly believe that this law will hold up constitutionally.
Immigrants have been a key factor to America ever since, well, colonial America. My relatives came to this country trying to start a new life. Most of my relatives came from Ireland and my last name used to be O’ Connor but my great great grandfather wanted to become more American and dropped the “O.” Well, my relatives that came to America to change their lives came over the legal way.
The one reason why Arizona decided to make this law was because of the illegal immigration. If the Mexicans that come to America looking for work would only come over the legal way, there would not be any problems. However, just like most things here in America, the system is a little broke and people take advantage of it. Simply put, people come over illegally because they can.
In the department of Homeland Security we have the Border Control Agency. Their responsibility is to secure our borders and make sure the only people crossing the borders are legal immigrants and travelers on both sides. Since the Border Control Agency seems to neglect their responsibilities and countless presidents have refused to do something to secure the borders America is facing a difficult problem of illegal immigration. This is where Arizona has stepped up to the plate.
Some question the validity of the Arizona’s new law which does not actually take effect until late-July. Those who question this law ask if this law is “legal stereo-typing.” Seriously, how could a country that prides itself on everyone being an individual and privacy ask people if they are citizens or here legally? Well my friends, for one, it is pretty easy to tell who is Mexican when one lives in the Southwest. But, let me remind you that this law does not just apply to illegal Mexicans, it also applies to illegal students who stay longer than their visas allow. The justifiable reason the state of Arizona has in this law is the Supreme Court case in 1968 called “Terry v. Ohio” when the Court ruled with the Fourth Amendment that there is a thing called “reasonable suspicion.”
Reasonable suspicion will help Arizona’s law in courts because the state can claim they had “reasonable suspicion” that this person or that person is here illegally. Arizona’s Governor, Jan Brewer has said that this law will not allow racial profiling (check out the link): http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/04/30/arizona-governor-signs-revising-new-immigration-law/
Let us say the Governor Brewer is right; let us now examine why Arizona would pass such a law. First off, this law was passed because the people of the state are affected by illegal immigration every day. Living in New York, I do not experience this as much mainly because I do not live next to the Mexican border or live on a farm and in need of cheap labor. Studies have suggested that illegal immigration has been the cause of violent crime rates going up in the cities and states that are most affected: http://ccis.ucsd.edu/PUBLICATIONS/wrkg131.pdf
The hope of this law is that by catching illegal immigrants the crime rate will be reduced. Another good source you should check out is this: http://www.dallasfed.org/research/border/tbe_orrenius.html
This site explains the effects of illegal immigration. Back to Arizona’s law we should wonder if this law came in part because the national government has done little to nothing to prevent illegal immigration. Illegal immigration and border control is the national government’s responsibility but states are allowed to have their own policies. Arizona has felt like the national government has not done enough to keep the state safe so they took matters into their own hands. Arizona is more affected by illegal immigration that states like Colorado, Nebraska, Montana, etc. Therefore, Arizona has every right to protect its interests.
Am I concerned with some of the questions that are brought up by this law? Of course. However, I feel that good things can and will come from this law. Just like syndicated columnist George Will: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/27/AR2010042702741.html
I feel that this law will help Arizona in the long run. President Reagan and his Administration have come the closest to immigration reform but it did not work in the long run. Their policy was to grant amnesty to those illegal immigrants that were caught. They way they were given amnesty was by having to pay a hefty fine. However, people were just willing to get pay the fine if they were granted amnesty. Arizona has now taken the next step to try and stop illegal immigration. They are actually trying to make something that is already “illegal”, illegal. Hopefully President Obama and national lawmakers see that Arizona is willing to stand up against illegal immigration and start passing national legislation.
My one and only concern of this law is that it could have potential backlash against the Republicans in November. But, I do have faith and I think this is one of the first steps to real change. I hope that all of you who read this get a chance to check out those links I posted.
"Simply put, people come over illegally because they can."
ReplyDeleteYou might explore the reasons why illegal immigrants wouldn't rather come in legally. Perhaps this is where the system is broken and therefore where the reform should be aimed...
First off, I'll comment that currently, becoming an American citizen is not easy. Unless you're seeking asylum, you need to have some kind of education, have a job, and have resided in the U.S in some form for 5 years (having a green card). On top of that there are immigration quotas as well. Under current immigration rules, we couldn't just let all these Mexicans come in legally, which is why they should change some of these rules if we want to combat illegal immigration (as stated in the above comment). The only reason I like this law is because it is lighting a fire under the ass of the United States Government to protect our borders, which we have neglected to do over the last 10 years (*cough Bush *cough). What people don't realize is having open borders is a NATIONAL SECURITY RISK. If Jose can sneak over the border, what is stopping Osama Bin Laden from coming over. The answer, nothing (not much, I can't say nothing because we do have a border patrol). Nothing is stopping terrorists from walking into the United States. I don't like the law itself because A. I think that it could promote racism and B. One persons view of reasonable suspicion could be completely different from another persons view. The whole reasonable suspicion thing I think is too vague and will be problematic. There are some people who you can tell they are not here legally. But there are mexicans who do have their papers and I don't think its fair they have to suffer because people of the same skin color are coming in illegally. I think there are other ways to combat this. This isn't the best way, but it is the only way. I find it funny that we have to make a law to make cops enforce what they should have been doing all along.
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