I was in Dallas this week for work. I finished up a job and while the engineer was running tests I went to lunch with some of the equipment guys.
As always seems to happen, odd because I do not bring it up with customers, the convo turns to politics. I was with two guys who are very American but have ancestors who came from the Dominican Republic and one from Columbia.
Both seemed to be pretty conservative leaning guys and believe the border should be locked down. They have no problem with sending illegal aliens home, but one still believes he will be arrested if he goes to Arizona and a cop doesn't like him. He believes the AZ bill will be used against all brown people. This is not a stupid guy, but he was adamant that cops could hold him for 24hrs if they didn't believe his ID was real, even if he was driving his own car. He actually referred to needing papers. WHAT PAPERS??? I don't have papers. My drivers license is the only ID I have that has my picture on it and is a valid form of identification. I keep my expired Military ID for nestalgia, but that doesn't count. What good is your birth certificate (BC)? Can anyone look at a BC and tell it is yours? NO.... I guess they could take prints of the bottom of your feet and match them to the BC. How many cops want to do that?
There was just no arguing with him. I tried everything. I told him the law states that a drivers license is valid proof that one is a citizen. I pointed out that the law gives a list of valid IDs. I told him that a cop who arrested him after viewing his ID would be breaking the law and would dealt with accordingly (allowing for a nice law suit). I argued that cops have all sorts of laws that they can abuse and only a very small few abuse them so what was he afraid was going to set the cops on a law breaking frenzy? I didn't even dent his resolve.
The convo concluded with him saying that he was still happy we did the bill so it brought attention to the border. Maybe a minor victory for me, but not the awakening I wanted to see in him. I guess it could be that I do not understand the fear because I am very white. But he was the only "brown" person I had met that feared being arrested.
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From my research, there are many problems with SB 1070. Like it or not, it's going to cost AZ a lot of $$$:
- First, all the lawsuits are going to be a serious dent in our state budget.
- Second, agree with the bill or not, but it's going to cost us a ton of business and revenue. There will be people/businesses that decide to not travel to or do business with AZ.
- Third, it will cost a lot to detain, investigate, and deport each person. Think about how much money, man-power, and resources that really takes to physically remove someone from the country.
Those are only financial consequences that I see as a result of this bill. Like this bill or not, but this has put a stain on the already fragile reputation of AZ. We have now become the butt of many jokes across the US. You may argue that it's the "liberal media" making it this way...but ask yourself: who owns all of those TV outlets and how "liberal" are those major corporations?
However, in my opinion, the most important problem with this bill is that it WON'T BE EFFECTIVE!!! So, not only is it going to cost us a boat-load of $$$ (which, as I'm sure you know, we really can't afford right now) and stain our reputation (somehow, I doubt this bothers you much), it's not even going to work!!! Yep, you might catch some illegal immigrants. I'm not going to argue with that. You have to look at the "big picture" though. Let's say you round up 100 immigrants and send them south of the border. That will just open up a job vacuum of 100 jobs ready to be filled by the next wave of immigrants. It'll just be a revolving door, draining AZ's resources.
Now, don't get me wrong, I definitely think there is an immigration problem. But, in my opinion, the most effective means to deal with it would be to enforce the laws against the EMPLOYERS. If you take the jobs away, they will not come. I guarantee you this. If the consequences of hiring an illegal immigrant were greater than the money companies save by using (and abusing) these people willing to work for less, then there would be no incentive for them to hire them. Hell, I'd even say they should make a law making it criminal (with mandatory jail time) to hire an illegal immigrant. So, instead of throwing one out of millions or illegal immigrants in jail, throw the CEO or executive manager in jail and I assure you things would change REAL fast!
The problem is that corporations and the corporate sell-outs on Capitol Hill LIKE THE STATUS QUO just fine as it is now. Otherwise, it would have already changed. They like messing with the labor market to reduce real wages for Americans. Think about it...that's really what it's doing to our jobs. Supply and demand: more labor, reduced wages. Why do you think your false prophet, Reagan, gave amnesty? Duh, so he could legalize the increase labor supply. Also, if you think we're in a serious recession now, imagine eliminating all this cheap labor from the bottom lines of all of those companies that are breaking the law. Yep, it would be like another burst bubble on the stock market.
So, in conclusion, I think this bill is a bad idea that will cost Arizona a lot of money for no or minimal results. The powers that be like the status quo and NOTHING of any substance will change as a result of this bill until we change the powers running this country into the ground.
Chew on that, tough guy! hehehe
See ya tonight! ;-p
Finally, King of the Dirty Libs, a valid argument against the bill.
Granted that this bill is but a start and that punishing the employers is a huge step. One that Arizona has already started and that anyone who goes out can see that it is working. At least in the customer service area.
For a lot of us, this bill is simply seen as a first step in recognizing there is a problem and doing something about it.
We as a state can not lock down the border ourselves. We could but that would be even more controversial as my plan would involve Arizona volunteers similar to a state sanctioned minute man project.
I like your idea of increasing the penalties against employers and even adding some time in tent city would be great.
I agree costs would be higher and I have said in previous posts that I would support a tax increase to cover this.
I am so sick of people being afraid of enforcing laws because of frivolous law suits used to intimidate and break our spirit.
If we are right and just then we must stand up for what we believe in.
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