Arizona Immigration

The law that has Obama and the Left in a tizzy was passed by the State of Arizona this week. To hear the press tell the story, you would think it authorizes a sort of police gestapo to shake down everybody who isn't white and arrest them on the slimmest of suspicion that they just might not have the appropriate documentation.

As is my normal practice, I made the attempt to get behind the media smokescreen and determine what the actual law says. And my conclusion is that it's quite reasonable, and certainly unrecognizable from its characterizations by the leftist establishment and their communications networks.

Crime rates in Arizona are reportedly off the charts, driven largely by their hundreds of thousands of uninvited guests. The Obama administration, which is responsible for border and immigration law enforcement, refuses to take even the most basic steps to help the state solve this problem. So Arizona decided to take steps to try solving the problem themselves.

Going back to the Bush administration and Clinton before him, illegal immigration border enforcement has been a duty abdicated by the Federal government for far too long. And for all the wrong reasons.

Clinton and Obama look at illegal immigrants and see potential votes for themselves and their party. The Bush family see low-wage employees for businesses. If compassion for the poverty-stricken uneducated masses from south of the border who simply desire a better life for themselves and their families was behind their woeful disregard for sealing the border, it seems to me that their approach itself belies that.

Because the decades-old system of telling the world in public, "No, you cannot live in work in the US without filling out the paperwork", then turning to the side and whispering, "But if you can get in somehow without getting caught, we'll look the other way" is doing no service to these millions who answered the whispered promise.

Because an illegal can't, and should not, receive the protections of the US and state government that set the minimum wage, require unemployment compensation, provide welfare assistance, and many other such things.

In the meantime, when times are hard, and 10 percent of Americans can't find a job, where's the compassion in continuing to look the other way while businesses continue to hire illegals under the table at a fraction of market wages? Should a country have compassion first for their own citizens who are hurting, or for people from other countries who managed to sneak across the border?

I support Arizona's new law, and would support the idea of extending it to every state in the union. If the Federal Government refuses to enforce the law, then the citizens themselves must organize themselves to do so. For everyone's safety and welfare.

It's been posted before, but here's the recap of my proposed immigration policy:
1. Seal the borders, north and south. Use physical barriers and electronic detection as appropriate to guarantee nobody can sneak across.
2. Advertise the notice nationwide - anyone in the country illegally has 6 months to acquire the necessary permits or return to their home country. Realizing that the government will be swamped with applications for things ranging from work permits to education visas to citizenship, and those applications will likely take more than 6 months to process, those who in the initial review of their application are deemed likely to qualify can receive a deferral of an additional 6 months.
3. No person illegally in the US who has committed a felony may qualify for any legal residence.
4. Those who return to their country of origin voluntarily may apply for re-admission to the country and be considered if they meet these basic criteria: Proven English literacy, sponsorship by a US-based employer that promises to employ the person on re-entry or proof of adequate means of support.
5. After the 6 month grace period ends, any person discovered through routine law enforcement means, such as traffic stops, sobriety checkpoints, police complaints, etc., who cannot produce evidence of legal residence in the US will be summarily arrested and deported within 48 hours.

That's fairness that applies to all citizens, Mr. President.