Thursday, April 29, 2010

Arizona-Mex Immigration Laws

Arizona-Mex Immigration Laws
By: Rene Velez April 23rd, 2010


We all know what Tex-Mex food is. It is that cuisine that is typically regarded as Mexican, and of course does have Mexican origin, but with such a twist to the recipe that it’s not really Mexican. It is the Texas-Mexican variation, or simply Tex-Mex. Some consider it a refinement of the Mexican cuisine other regard it as the defamation of a culture. Clearly there is a middle ground. Both seem to cater to a world of hungry pallets. Perhaps immigration in this country is going the same way,

Arizona’s Immigration Reform

I have to say that I applaud Arizona for coming out with it’s version of immigration law. But not for the law itself. I applaud there motion to take matters into their own hands in light of the fact the federal government has failed to do so. Before you hog tie me and send me off to the whipping post let me explain. Any law that provides for racial profiling by local law enforcement, such as the typical police man standing on the corner, will likely be a bad idea. Clearly the public has a right to be alarmed in that these types of laws threaten civil rights. In case you are from else where in the country, we need to be sensitive as to the shear number of American citizens who could potentially have their civil rights trashed due to a poor local immigration law which is further compounded by officers who have no training or experience in this delicate of all methods of policing its people. Having a police state is not the way to address immigration law given the many other alternatives afforded to us in a highly advanced civilization such as our own. So to this regard the law is in fact a bad deal.

Nonetheless I have to believe that Arizona has good intentions. As a state it has its right if not an obligation to its citizens to defend its borders and to pass and enforce laws that provide for the peace and the safety of its citizens. We should also take note that we as a nation could very much benefit from better immigration laws. Is this enough of a statement to justify a law that potentially is in direct conflict with our constitutional rights? Absolutely not!

Forcing the Issue

We have on our hands an all out war in border towns within the sovereign country of Mexico. A war that is not being won. That very same war, the narco-trafficking, the murders and other violent crimes are indeed spilling over in some way or another into many border town states and communities. To this end Arizona should be supported in passing this law not for the law itself, but for pressing the issue at the federal level. Politicians within Arizona need to take a stand and get other border states to take a side. Each state should threaten to pass their own immigration laws until the federal government does its job. It is the federal government’s job to pass immigration laws and to secure the national borders on all fronts and protect this free and open society from alien threats. It is the federal government that needs to interpret the constitutional right of its citizens and stop nothing short of making sure civil rights are not violated. But in the end, each state has a duty to protect their own. Let me be clear in my thoughts. I don’t promote anarchy. I do not believe that revolutions of this type should in fact occur. But after many, many years and millions of illegal immigrants who use our public services and don’t pay into the system…….. we need results. Given the amount of time elapsed and the potential for homeland security threats, Arizona and every other border state needs to send the message loud and clear to Washington, D.C. If D.C. can’t fix it, we will.

Sometimes, a little revolution is a healthy thing. We should be watchful of how the press puts a spin on this sensitive issue. Racial profiling and civil rights issues are not a subject for sensationalist media. This is a complex subject matter that will require skill to solve and academics to put into perspective. But latching onto sensational claims of racism does not accomplish the basic need of protecting our borders.

To Profile is Human Nature – (to some extent)

I have a few thoughts on profiling. Profiling has become a dirty word. It has all sorts of connotations that are not very nice and based on prejudice. I looked up the term on the internet; “ the act or process of extrapolating information about a person based on known traits or tendencies, the act of suspecting or targeting a person on the basis of observed characteristics or behavior”. Okay….let’s profile a bit to see where that may take us.

If a policeman was walking down a street and hears a burglar alarm, then hears shots ring out and as he/she nears an intersection sees two people, a woman and a man, “suspiciously” in a hurry getting into a car, and notices that the woman seems injured, and then sees the car speed off. If after the officer, gathering their thoughts and seeing how the rest of the crowd reacts and parts way for these two people as they speed away, you conclude, “hey these must be the burglars, I will call in the car tag to call them for questioning, or worse yet simply call them suspected robbers, is this profiling. Under the definition above it sure seems to be. But it also seems we would also call it negligence if that same officer, did not use some intellect, some aspect of his training to logically deduce something from his observations that may apprehend criminals who could get away and perhaps cause further harm to property and perhaps life. In this case the active role of observation is not only profiling but should be part of an officers training.

What if later we found out, the couple was a married man and his wife, who was pregnant and who fled the scene of an actual robbery, because she came into labor. The crowd parted because they saw, and heard what the officer did not have the advantage of observing. Ooops! Profiling just went wrong. Nonetheless, we would expect the police officer to do nothing less under the circumstances.

I would submit that profiling is just as much a part of human nature as any other trait we humans possess. In it self profiling is part of our humanity. As human beings, it is how we use the information obtained from a profile (an observation) that matters. Perhaps profiling has such a negative stigma simply because it is so closely related to racism and civil rights violations. The two do seem to go hand in hand. I dare to say that to recognize someone’s race, in itself is not racism. In fact to not recognize another persons cultural, ethnic or religious background, for example, could prove to be quite awkward if not socially unacceptable.

In the U.S. we are no where near understanding or overcoming racism because we have not come to terms that the first step in overcoming racism is to recognize race, culture, ethnicity and all those other traits that help us begin to understand culture and allows us to be a part of it. Yes , we have come a long way though.

Racism and in particular racial profiling is in fact a very bad thing when the information that we extrapolate is used to hurt others. To deny opportunity, to deny civil rights, to abuse power over others. Obviously this is wrong and people who are educated know this. In light of crime waves, in light of poor national security and in light of immigration laws that are not being enforced, profiling needs to be understood. We as a nation need to be more understanding and seek some middle ground on this matter. I do believe in a free and open country. I would love to live with my doors unlocked every day. But that is not the reality, of the life most of us live. Some measures for security must be taken. The question is what is that middle ground. Where do you draw the line of being a free and open society and when do we begin to employ methods that could, if used incorrectly, impose restrictions on civil liberties. How do we implement procedures for security and not become a police state. I suspect there is no simple answer.

It is very unfortunate that amongst all of the wonderful nationalities that compose this great nation, some of us tend to stick out more than others. Some of us could in fact be more easily targeted than others. I hope we use our intellect to not allow this to divide us. I hope if anything that the strength of the American community shines through and that if and when we see abuses occur we stand up for one another, recognizing that we must to some extent secure our borders and provide for the common defense of our nation. But having said that, I will not allow my neighbor to be targeted, and we must talk more about race, culture, ethnicity and religion so as to create awareness and understanding and to educate ourselves and our society to prevent abuses which are unfortunately, part of the history of our world.

The Short Term Pain

It is unfortunate that no substantive progress in immigration law reform has occurred. People need to realize that any fix to this problem is likely to create other problems. Some businesses that rely on undocumented workers will suffer. Some communities will loose business. Certain jobs will not be filled because no one wants them. Worst of all some families could face being broken up. (This is one we need to prevent for sure) Immigration reform has not happened in this country because it is political suicide. That’s because we as voters together with the media make it that way. No one person can possibly stand up to the fire that it is. There is no way to solve this problem without causing some pain in some way. It’s like putting iodine on a wound. If it’s infected it will hurt, it will burn, it will not be pleasant. Yet we must face this pain and we must be careful not to lynch those public figures who want to make things better even if they are forcing through a law that may have some very bad side effects. Better that we acknowledge the root of the problem and applaud action and then try to deal with what is wrong than to condemn us all to inaction and even worse consequences. Let’s expend energy to fix the weak points rather than shoot down the entire bill.

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