Arizona's Immigration Bill

[crashhelmet]

How is deporting someone that is violating the law of this country by being here illegally violating their human rights? How is it a violation of human rights to protect our border and our citizens and legal resident aliens?

What about the rights that are abused when we're stopping every non-white and demanding they prove their citizenship? They could be 5th generation American for all we know.

CH

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

once again, those taking lives are not living peacefully. as for services, i think everyone has a right to not be treated as subhuman for committing no crime other than being on the wrong side of an imaginary line.

The concept of borders and territories has existed for a long time. The bottom line is that until it's NOT a federal crime to be in this country illegally, the people who are here without proper documentation ARE criminals period.

That may come off as harsh, but as someone who has just successfully gotten through the long and laborious process of immigrating to the U.S. LEGALLY, I have little sympathy for folks who are here without any papers.

[HYHYBT]

If you're legally here, aren't you required to carry a green card?

No, you're not. I'm here legally and have never had, and almost certainly never will have, a green card. Of course, that's because I was born in Atlanta, but I don't have *any* ready-to-hand form of ID that proves I belong in this country. I *might* have a copy of my birth certificate in Dad's safe deposit box (even were I inclined to carry it around, it's simply not durable enough); if not, I'd have to figure out which county the thing was filed in and get a new one, and meanwhile I'd be in jail someplace for NO GOOD REASON AT ALL except that someone erroneously thought I might possibly not belong here, or even because someone knew full well that I'm legal but had some sort of grudge against me and so told the police otherwise. I do have the advantage of being white and speaking with approximately a local accent, but that sort of thing isn't supposed to matter, and after all, I could have snuck in the other way from Canada or something...

The problem is not that the law would cause trouble for illegal immigrants. The problem is that it would cause trouble for *legal* immigrants, as well as citizens and the police. Especially with the lawsuit provisions. Encouraging police to prioritize paperwork-checking over responding to an emergency in progress is simply idiotic; and even if that gets settled, it still opens the government up to defending against an endless stream of pointless lawsuits from those who assume everybody of a certain appearance or manner of speech is here illegally.

[Nyoibo]

once again, those taking lives are not living peacefully. as for services, i think everyone has a right to not be treated as subhuman for committing no crime other than being on the wrong side of an imaginary line.

Lets use a smaller example, by that logic I can come into your home and live in your living room and eat your food and you would be violating my rights if you called the cops to remove me.

[Hobbs]

That's an illogical analogy. For one, your home is private property. These immigrants aren't doing anything illegal except living on the wrong side of an imaginery line, as you quoted. This law will do nothing but put Hispanics once more as second-class citizens, with anyone one of us in danger of being considered an illegal because of our skin color or last name. I have a hispanic last name and might be stationed in Arizona in the future. You can bet there'll be hell to pay if some hick cop asks for my papers. I'll shove my CAC down his throat before suing for defamation.

[crashhelmet]

Lets use a smaller example, by that logic I can come into your home and live in your living room and eat your food and you would be violating my rights if you called the cops to remove me.

Nyoibo, let me put this into an analogy for you.

Suppose YOU are sitting in YOUR living room, eating YOUR food, when the police decide to raid YOUR house and demand that YOU show proof that YOU are a Citizen or a legal resident.

That's with this law comes down to. And unfortunately, it is now a law. Governor Brewer signed it into law Friday afternoon.

CH

[Greenday]

I love all these crazy situations the anti-law people are coming up with. Cops aren't going to be raiding people's homes to find illegals. Cops won't stop fighting violent crime because of it. The law most likely will never be applied. The police won't pull every person over that isn't pale.

The people that will get questioned will be people who get pulled over for other reasons and can't speak English to save their life, but speak Spanish perfectly with a Mexican accent. People who have to deal with the cops for one reason or another that has nothing to do with not being American, then they get questioned because they can't speak English.

This is a great bill. It's about time that someone does something about the illegal immigration problem. And yes, it is a REAL line. It's not imaginary. It's not like people are crossing it by mistake and getting in trouble for it.

[Hobbs]

There are plenty of Americans who can't speak English to save their lives, yet they are still citizens of this country. Back in the 50's and 60's, my parents, who are American-born, by the way, got hassled by laws such as this one. It grieves me to think that mindsets have not changed in the 50+ years and that racial laws are still passable.

[Arcade Man D]

This is a great bill. It's about time that someone does something about the illegal immigration problem. And yes, it is a REAL line. It's not imaginary. It's not like people are crossing it by mistake and getting in trouble for it.

This is a horrible bill because it vastly oversteps the boundaries of state power. Enforcing immigration law is distinctly a federal concern, and the fact of the matter is that yes, the police will be profiling because of this law because if they don't stop every single Mexican-looking person, they can get sued for "not enforcing the law". Which can bring judgments up to $5000/day. A state has no business passing this sort of law in the first place, and this second provision will cause cops to ignore other crimes in favor of enforcing this law simply because this one carries the highest punishment for not doing so.

[Fryk]

Yeah, I see this as a terrible law, created for the best intentions. It impacts legal immigrants and visitors as well as those they are trying to catch. Sort of like trying to swat a fly with a buick.

[BlaqueKatt]

This is a horrible bill because it vastly oversteps the boundaries of state power. Enforcing immigration law is distinctly a federal concern

thankfully the feds are looking into it-they don't take kindly to states infringing on their turf so to speak.....

[Greenday]

thankfully the feds are looking into it-they don't take kindly to states infringing on their turf so to speak.....

Maybe if they didn't take their sweet time in doing something about the problem the state's wouldn't have to do this.

[Hobbs]

Maybe if they didn't take their sweet time in doing something about the problem the state's wouldn't have to do this.

The state's can't do this, is the issue here. If you want to talk about violating the constitution, AZ is completely at fault. This is a federal system; states cannot supersede the federal government.

[draggar]

Illegal immigrants is a serious double edged sword. Many that come here work in fields, slaughterhouses, etc. Their pay is far below minimum wage which is why we are able to get a hamburger at McDonalds for a dollar, meat at the grocery store at the price it is and same with "fresh" produce, even rent some hotel rooms for the low price that they offer. People working in these places come here to make a better life for themselves and their families but unfortunately a lot of them send the money they make overseas back to their families - it leaves the US.

Sadly, anyone who's bought these items is contributing to the problem, I think everyone here is guilty of that. If you think these people are stealing jobs from American citizen / people who are here legally - how many of you would be willing to work a full day in a field, picking produce for a couple of bucks?

But, every day here in south Florida you hear about violent crimes being committed by illegal aliens. Rapes, murders, arson, violent robberies, drug trafficking, "cop killers", etc. This is the scum the country can do without. Deport them back to where they came from and don't let them back.

I do find it interesting that the USA is one of the few countries in the world who, at times, treat those in their country illegally far better than those who are here legally.

As for the bill - I'd have to support it. If you're not here legally, then why should you be allowed our legal rights?

(On a side note - I loved it how all the "illegal alien" protests a few years back NONE of them were waiving US flags - they were all waiving flags of their home countries. Hey, if you want to be treated as an American then wave the f-ing USA flag. It's one thing to be proud of your heritage, it's another to protest American policies by showing your allegiance to another nation.

[Hobbs]

This is a land built upon immigrants. Unless you're a bloody Native American, you don't have anything to say either.

They should be given legal rights because human rights are basic to anyone, regardless of where they come from. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator certain unalienable rights..."