Illegal: Immigration Reform

James Shearer

I, along with the rest of the country, have been following the goings on in Arizona. For those of you living under a rock, Arizona has passed a new immigration law that will take effect in August. The law states that anyone who is suspected of being in the country illegally can be stopped and arrested.

That means folks that if you go to Arizona and if you’re of Hispanic descent of if you look Hispanic, you can be stopped even if you’re an American citizen. The outrage over this new law from both the left and the right has been explosive to say the least. Arizona police don’t like it, nor do they want to enforce it. But they can be sued by the state if they do not comply.

Talk about your racial profiling. Make no mistake about it folks, that’s just what it is. People have finally given in to panic over illegal immigrants who continue to pour into this country. It has now reached a point where anyone who looks Latin American can be arrested, at least in Arizona.

But whose fault is all of this? You have to put the blame on all the politicians who have refused to address this problem, and believe me there is one. But you can’t really blame people for being upset. After all, not everyone who migrates to America has good intentions. Those who don’t are ruining the reputation of those who do, and the media doesn’t make matters any better. Not everyone who crosses the border is a drug dealer or a criminal.

So the whole illegal thing needs to be addressed, but not this way. The really interesting part to me though is how the right is reacting to all of this. Repubs and even the Tea Party have come out against this law. Now before anyone starts to think that both have grown a conscience—nothing can be further from the truth—remember this is an election year. If the right wants to make any inroads this fall they will have to stay away from this issue altogether or come out against it.

See folks, it’s all about the votes the right desperately needs—the black and Hispanic votes. So they need to be against this law. Not that they really give a damn, because they don’t.

How will this law work for people who are homeless? Homeless people usually don’t carry ID let alone a passport. So what happens to them if they are US citizens but are of Hispanic decent? Bet that’s something that the Gov of Arizona thought about….

But after all, Arizona was the only state that refused to recognize Martin Luther King Day. Chances are the pressure will make them abandon this stupid law. But how will we solve the problem of illegal immigration? I did have one idea that may be a decent one. How about cleaning up the statuses of all of the illegal immigrants who are already here? Those who are working here and abiding by the law—let them apply for citizenship. Those with criminal records and such should be sent packing.

Needs work I know but it’s a start. The bottom line is that we can’t solve the problem of illegal immigration by writing a racist law.