American’s have a love affair with treating symptoms thinking it will cure the problem. Pervasive headache? A few aspirin will take care of the symptom, but they’ll do nothing to the underlying cause. High customer dissatisfaction? Firing all front line people and replacing them with new ones will solve the problem… until the existing middle management screws it over again. What else do we like to address the symptom instead of the problem? Immigration.
Unfortunately, my home state has decided to pass a bill that does just that. While it does address a few of the problem points (illegal hiring), it also penalizes the symptoms. Now in Arizona, officers can ask for proof of citizenship during their interactions, such as traffic stops. Keep in mind your drivers license does not suffice as proof of citizenship, only proof of identification and license to operate a motor vehicle. This means technically everyone in the state of Arizona would need to carry a certified copy of their birth certificate or their passport with them at all times, to prove citizenship.
Only thing is, who do you think is going to be asked to prove citizenship? Not me, I can assure you. My skin is so pale it’s two shades from translucent. My last name is McGarr, and I don’t have an Irish accent by default. However, legal US citizens will be questioned about their immigration status, and, potentially arrested under the new law. I lived in Arizona until just recently (by that I mean the end of 2009), and I know how overzealous some of the thin blue line can be down there.
So I’d like you to stop and think a moment, on what it would be like for yourself, assuming you’re a white US citizen, to be stopped for simple speeding, only to be asked to produce your proof of citizenship. Having nothing more than a license on you, you cannot do that (an SSN doesn’t establish citizenship). So you’re asked to step out of the car, and are hauled down to the police station pending proof of citizenship. Your birth certificate is locked away at home in your records drawer. You attempt to contact someone to come down with the document, in the mean time you’re being processed and sent to County. What would have been a routine traffic stop and maybe a fine has now turned into hours or days in the legal system.
And it is 100% lega.
Of course the law allows you to sue the authorities for miscarriage of this law, but, that involves a lawyer, time, and money. Assuming you didn’t get fired from your job and have money to spare, you can go ahead and fight it. We don’t yet have precedent yet, but remember courts tend to favor cops over Joe Schmoe. Otherwise, you’re screwed.
And it is 100% legal.
You may think this is ‘alarmist’ or ‘overreacting’, but as someone who lived in Arizona and saw what goes on there, this will be a reality for many. Many of which who beyond whatever caused their interaction with cops to begin in the first place, their only crime at that point is being… Hispanic.
Is it really acceptable to folks in the US that we can allow this to happen? Is it acceptable that we can allow even one person to be detained merely on the grounds they cannot produce proof of citizenship in a state, in a nation, that does not require us to carry such documents in the first place?
Not to mention the cost to the state and cities, as estimated by several different organizations and reported on by Newsweek.
I hear all the time, all too often, the catch phrase ‘illegal is illegal’, and while on the surface this may seem true, you have to look deeper and who is saying it. No one in this nation is perfect. No one has never broken any laws. From kids running across streets outside of crosswalks (Jaywalking) to forgetting to turn on (or off) the blinker, millions upon millions of Americans break laws every day. “Illegal is Illegal” right, so the next time your vehicle’s speedometer crosses the speed limit, be sure to turn yourself in. The next time you jaywalk, call 911 on yourself. After all, illegal is illegal. I’m not brining this up to equate illegal immigration to minor traffic violations, but to merely point out those in glass houses should probably not hurl boulders.
There are right ways and wrong ways to address the endemic problem of illegal immigration. This is a wrong way to address it. This addresses symptoms, rather than the problem itself. This makes people feel good that the bad Government is doing something about immigration (which is funny because people say there is too much government as it is).
This does not strike deep enough at the heart of the problem, which is the source of jobs. If we want to have lasting immigration reform it needs to start not with walls on the border, dogs and ICE raiding homes, or letting local cops enforce immigration laws in a system that cannot handle it, but instead by targeting those who provide that employment. Businesses, private residents, anyone who knowingly hires someone who is not legally able to work in the US needs to lose everything. I’ll even go as far and say they get two chances, the first time a hefty fine, the second time, the business closes or the home is seized. Put jail time on that. I say this because I cannot in my heart consider someone a criminal for taking what is offered of them for a better life. Would you like to live in a city under siege? I wouldn’t either. If someone is offering them jobs, I cannot blame them or condemn them from doing whatever they can do to come here, I can only blame the people that gave them the enticement to come to the US via illegal channels, which includes smugglers and those who hire illegally.
We have seen the actions of programs like E-Verify and strict enforcement working. We need to continue that path of enforcement, and in the mean time not drive huge numbers of illegals into the shadows, but instead work on a way to provide a clear, comprehensive immigration process that involves allowing individuals already hear to work toward citizenship, and shipping home the felons. We need a 5 year maximum moratorium on new permanent applications while we work to resolve the massive numbers here. Some call this amnesty, I call this reality and common sense.
The point is that feel good measures that show a tough arm toward immigration often don’t have the intended result, they don’t target the root cause. I’m against illegal immigration just like millions of Americans, but the difference is I have not allowed myself to get angry, or become hateful. I’ve instead been looking at what can solve the problem, while not denying anyone of their civil liberties nor just addressing symptoms. Assuming anyone of brown skin is an illegal immigration puts us all further at risk of ever getting the problem solved, as it morphs from an issue of law to an issue of hate. Too many times in Arizona have I seen people who are Americans, but of Hispanic or other heritages be told to “Go back to where you came from!” by a white European decedent. The amount of anger and hate in this debate is disgusting, it is embarrassing, and it is keeping us from getting on with solutions.
We need to fix problems, and not simply try to address the symptoms, while maintaining to our principles of fairness and equality.
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Addressing Symptoms, Instead of Problems… Redux
American’s have a love affair with treating symptoms thinking it will cure the problem. Pervasive headache? A few aspirin will take care of the symptom, but they’ll do nothing to the underlying cause. High customer dissatisfaction? Firing all front line people and replacing them with new ones will solve the problem… until the existing middle management screws it over again. What else do we like to address the symptom instead of the problem? Immigration.
Unfortunately, my home state has decided to pass a bill that does just that. While it does address a few of the problem points (illegal hiring), it also penalizes the symptoms. Now in Arizona, officers can ask for proof of citizenship during their interactions, such as traffic stops. Keep in mind your drivers license does not suffice as proof of citizenship, only proof of identification and license to operate a motor vehicle. This means technically everyone in the state of Arizona would need to carry a certified copy of their birth certificate or their passport with them at all times, to prove citizenship.
Only thing is, who do you think is going to be asked to prove citizenship? Not me, I can assure you. My skin is so pale it’s two shades from translucent. My last name is McGarr, and I don’t have an Irish accent by default. However, legal US citizens will be questioned about their immigration status, and, potentially arrested under the new law. I lived in Arizona until just recently (by that I mean the end of 2009), and I know how overzealous some of the thin blue line can be down there.
So I’d like you to stop and think a moment, on what it would be like for yourself, assuming you’re a white US citizen, to be stopped for simple speeding, only to be asked to produce your proof of citizenship. Having nothing more than a license on you, you cannot do that (an SSN doesn’t establish citizenship). So you’re asked to step out of the car, and are hauled down to the police station pending proof of citizenship. Your birth certificate is locked away at home in your records drawer. You attempt to contact someone to come down with the document, in the mean time you’re being processed and sent to County. What would have been a routine traffic stop and maybe a fine has now turned into hours or days in the legal system.
And it is 100% lega.
Of course the law allows you to sue the authorities for miscarriage of this law, but, that involves a lawyer, time, and money. Assuming you didn’t get fired from your job and have money to spare, you can go ahead and fight it. We don’t yet have precedent yet, but remember courts tend to favor cops over Joe Schmoe. Otherwise, you’re screwed.
And it is 100% legal.
You may think this is ‘alarmist’ or ‘overreacting’, but as someone who lived in Arizona and saw what goes on there, this will be a reality for many. Many of which who beyond whatever caused their interaction with cops to begin in the first place, their only crime at that point is being… Hispanic.
Is it really acceptable to folks in the US that we can allow this to happen? Is it acceptable that we can allow even one person to be detained merely on the grounds they cannot produce proof of citizenship in a state, in a nation, that does not require us to carry such documents in the first place?
Not to mention the cost to the state and cities, as estimated by several different organizations and reported on by Newsweek.
I hear all the time, all too often, the catch phrase ‘illegal is illegal’, and while on the surface this may seem true, you have to look deeper and who is saying it. No one in this nation is perfect. No one has never broken any laws. From kids running across streets outside of crosswalks (Jaywalking) to forgetting to turn on (or off) the blinker, millions upon millions of Americans break laws every day. “Illegal is Illegal” right, so the next time your vehicle’s speedometer crosses the speed limit, be sure to turn yourself in. The next time you jaywalk, call 911 on yourself. After all, illegal is illegal. I’m not brining this up to equate illegal immigration to minor traffic violations, but to merely point out those in glass houses should probably not hurl boulders.
There are right ways and wrong ways to address the endemic problem of illegal immigration. This is a wrong way to address it. This addresses symptoms, rather than the problem itself. This makes people feel good that the bad Government is doing something about immigration (which is funny because people say there is too much government as it is).
This does not strike deep enough at the heart of the problem, which is the source of jobs. If we want to have lasting immigration reform it needs to start not with walls on the border, dogs and ICE raiding homes, or letting local cops enforce immigration laws in a system that cannot handle it, but instead by targeting those who provide that employment. Businesses, private residents, anyone who knowingly hires someone who is not legally able to work in the US needs to lose everything. I’ll even go as far and say they get two chances, the first time a hefty fine, the second time, the business closes or the home is seized. Put jail time on that. I say this because I cannot in my heart consider someone a criminal for taking what is offered of them for a better life. Would you like to live in a city under siege? I wouldn’t either. If someone is offering them jobs, I cannot blame them or condemn them from doing whatever they can do to come here, I can only blame the people that gave them the enticement to come to the US via illegal channels, which includes smugglers and those who hire illegally.
We have seen the actions of programs like E-Verify and strict enforcement working. We need to continue that path of enforcement, and in the mean time not drive huge numbers of illegals into the shadows, but instead work on a way to provide a clear, comprehensive immigration process that involves allowing individuals already hear to work toward citizenship, and shipping home the felons. We need a 5 year maximum moratorium on new permanent applications while we work to resolve the massive numbers here. Some call this amnesty, I call this reality and common sense.
The point is that feel good measures that show a tough arm toward immigration often don’t have the intended result, they don’t target the root cause. I’m against illegal immigration just like millions of Americans, but the difference is I have not allowed myself to get angry, or become hateful. I’ve instead been looking at what can solve the problem, while not denying anyone of their civil liberties nor just addressing symptoms. Assuming anyone of brown skin is an illegal immigration puts us all further at risk of ever getting the problem solved, as it morphs from an issue of law to an issue of hate. Too many times in Arizona have I seen people who are Americans, but of Hispanic or other heritages be told to “Go back to where you came from!” by a white European decedent. The amount of anger and hate in this debate is disgusting, it is embarrassing, and it is keeping us from getting on with solutions.
We need to fix problems, and not simply try to address the symptoms, while maintaining to our principles of fairness and equality.