Arizona’s Immigration Bill: Trading Liberty For Security
Arizona has serious problems with illegal immigration and crime. Mexican drug cartels are crossing the U.S – Mexican border and wreaking havoc in Arizona’s cities. Thousands of illegal immigrants cross the border daily and with that a portion of these illegal aliens happen to also be members of Mexican drug cartels. Phoenix now ranks #1 in kidnappings in the U.S. and is second only to Mexico City in the world.
The next video also discusses the crime problem and shows how easy it is for a member of Aljazeera Press to get an Arizona I.D. with the name of Janet M. Napolitano, the former Governor of Arizona and current Secretary of Homeland Security all for the grand total of $15.
Add in the murder of Rob Krentz, a Southeastern Arizona rancher who was shot a month ago by an illegal crossing the border and Arizona’s government felt compelled to act.
To deal with this and the many other problems associated with illegal immigration and crime, Arizona’s governor recently signed into law Senate Bill 1070.
While Arizona’s Illegal Immigration bill tries to address the serious problems of kidnapping, assaults, murder, human trafficking, home invasions, and theft; SB 1070 goes too far by infringing on civil rights. The provision in Arizona’s Immigration bill that allows police to ask for identification if the officer has reasonable suspicion says:
FOR ANY LAWFUL CONTACT MADE BY A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL OR AGENCY OF THIS STATE OR A COUNTY, CITY, TOWN OR OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THIS STATE WHERE REASONABLE SUSPICION EXISTS THAT THE PERSON IS AN ALIEN WHO IS UNLAWFULLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES, A REASONABLE ATTEMPT SHALL BE MADE, WHEN PRACTICABLE, TO DETERMINE THE IMMIGRATION STATUS OF THE PERSON. THE PERSON’S IMMIGRATION STATUS SHALL BE VERIFIED WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PURSUANT TO 8 UNITED STATES CODE SECTION 1373(c).
It’s impossible to determine if someone is possibly an illegal immigrant by looks alone but that won’t prevent Arizona from trying. When asked about what an illegal alien looks like Gov. Janet Brewer had this to say:
The law will be enforced civilly, fairly, and without discriminatory….uh…points to it.
That statement gives me all the confidence in the world. Judge Andrew Napalitano explains why this bill has Constitutional problems:
Requiring people to prove their identity defies the Constitution and equal protection.
Even some police in Phoenix question whether the bill will work and are opposed to Arizona’s SB 1070:
Marissa Wingate reports Phoenix Police Public Safety manager Jack Harris says the new immigration law is not what he was hoping for when it comes to keeping illegal immigrants out of our state.
So how does Arizona deal with it’s illegal immigration problem? The border states must pressure the Federal Government to enforce the existing federal law in place already. The borders have not been, nor are now, secure in any sense of the word. Don’t take my word for it though. Watch this video about Arizona’s porous borders from AmericanBorderPatrol.com:
Here are a few maps from AmericanBorderPatrol.com of our border fencing along Arizona in 2009. I can’t attest to the accuracy of the map but they certainly have significant video evidence to back up their data. The different colors along the border indicate which type of fencing has been erected. Here is the key to fencing types:
Vehicle barriers, steel matting, and mesh provide no real resistance to drug smugglers and illegal immigrants.
As the maps demonstrate, there are literally hundreds of miles of practically open borders along Arizona.
Politicians on both side of the aisle having been saying for decades that we need to secure our borders and the Federal Government is responsible for that. Rather than implement a policy of asking persons within our borders on ‘reasonable suspicion’ for papers and possibly starting some national I.D. program, let’s start by just enforcing the existing law correctly and actually do something about border control.
The Federal government could easily call in the National Guard to secure the border. The Governor of Arizona could just as easily call in the State Guard to help secure the border. The question then becomes who is willing to pull the trigger and pay for that. Ironically, the U.S. spends billions upon billions “trying” to secure foreign national borders. It would seem that our own borders would be important as well.
The most pressing issue here is one of crime. Knee jerk reactions like national I.D. cards and gestapo like tactics on our own residents is not the way to solve the thousands of Mexican drug traffickers committing crime in the U.S. Our failure to let reason and Constitutional rights overcome fear would cut yet another branch off the tree of liberty.
Hello could I quote some of the insight found in this post if I link back to you?
Absolutely. Thanks for reading.
Hm, looks like some people comment without reading the post itself :/
I Think my An-Cap friends should review the words of Mr. Rothbard when he said:
Open Borders, or the Camp-of-the Saints Problem
The question of open borders, or free immigration, has become an accelerating problem for classical liberals. This is first, because the welfare state increasingly subsidizes immigrants to enter and receive permanent assistance, and second, because cultural boundaries have become increasingly swamped. I began to rethink my views on immigration when, as the Soviet Union collapsed, it became clear that ethnic Russians had been encouraged to flood into Estonia and Latvia in order to destroy the cultures and languages of these peoples. Previously, it had been easy to dismiss as unrealistic Jean Raspail’s anti-immigration novel The Camp of the Saints, in which virtually the entire population of India decides to move, in small boats, into France, and the French, infected by liberal ideology, cannot summon the will to prevent economic and cultural national destruction. As cultural and welfare-state problems have intensified, it became impossible to dismiss Raspail’s concerns any longer.
However, on rethinking immigration on the basis of the anarcho-capitalist model, it became clear to me that a totally privatized country would not have “open borders” at all. If every piece of land in a country were owned by some person, group, or corporation, this would mean that no immigrant could enter there unless invited to enter and allowed to rent, or purchase, property. A totally privatized country would be as “closed” as the particular inhabitants and property owners desire. It seems clear, then, that the regime of open borders that exists de facto in the U.S. really amounts to a compulsory opening by the central state, the state in charge of all streets and public land areas, and does not genuinely reflect the wishes of the proprietors.
Under total privatization, many local conflicts and “externality” problems – not merely the immigration problem – would be neatly settled. With every locale and neighborhood owned by private firms, corporations, or contractual communities, true diversity would reign, in accordance with the preferences of each community. Some neighborhoods would be ethnically or economically diverse, while others would be ethnically or economically homogeneous. Some localities would permit pornography or prostitution or drugs or abortions, others would prohibit any or all of them. The prohibitions would not be state imposed, but would simply be requirements for residence or use of some person’s or community’s land area. While statists who have the itch to impose their values on everyone else would be disappointed, every group or interest would at least have the satisfaction of living in neighborhoods of people who share its values and preferences. While neighborhood ownership would not provide Utopia or a panacea for all conflicts, it would at least provide a “second-best” solution that most people might be willing to live with.
Excellent comment. If property rights were allowed to be enforced and welfare incentives didn’t exist these problems wouldn’t be so large even with the Feds handling the border.
Isn’t this law basically a copy of existing federal law? Obviously the people of Arizona are alarmed at the rate of illegal immigrants that are spilling over their border with Mexico into the state. So what are they to do? Just sit back while the whole state implodes? It is clear the feds have no intention of honoring their duty to secure the border. So Arizona has to take these measures. It is a sad situation all around.
Once again the media is showing it’s bias and support for the left wing by supporting illegal immigration while tearing at the very fabric of our Nation. I’m all for legal immigration but illegal immigration is and has been a huge drain on this country and it’s tax-paying citizens. It is truly sad that Americans are being called racists for defending their rights as Americans and for trying to defend the Constitution.Americans need to support Arizona and we need to defend the Constitution, fight against illegal immigration and embrace legal immigration.
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No matter what you think of the law, boycotting Arizona businesses is ridiculous. The people don’t make the laws.
I thought that was really informative. Thanks for the unusual content. I’ll keep an eye on this.
The arizona law sb1070 is a answer now for immigration failures in the US vote now to register your opinion http://www.azimmigrationrights.org