There is a lot of fear and frustration about the Arizona Immigration law known as 1070.
Those for and against the new law have their own arguments to justify their opinions, but the truth is actually somewhere in the middle. We all like to cherry pick our facts when we debate our points and leave out the parts that don’t support our views.
Those for the law stress the legality issues and that the law mirrors the Federal Immigration laws. They leave out the fact that immigration is a Federal responsibility. They claim, and probably rightfully so, that police officers will enforce it fairly and not racially profile citizens. But there will undoubtedly be exceptions. Almost any of us can by lawfully stopped at sometime during our day. A burnt out tail light, a rolling stop at a traffic sign or signal, changing lanes without signaling, etc. In other words, if a police officer wants to stop you he can usually find a way. And a little publicized amendment gives the same questioning authority to city and county code enforcers. Got weeds? You may get knock on your door and be questioned about your citizenship.
Another argument by the pro 1070 people is hard to disagree with too. It goes “illegal is illegal” or “what part of illegal don’t you understand?” . I don’t know anyone who is in favor of illegal immigration. But
there is a bit of hypocrisy there too. How many of us get through a day without breaking some law even unintentionally? Late to get to work and go a little (or a lot) over the speed limit? Park in the handicapped spot or in a fire lane just for a minute? Skip putting a few coins in the meter? Throw a cigarette or trash out the window? Ever shoplifted? I know, these are all small infractions, not like breaking a Federal law. So how many people fudged a little on their income tax and signed the return even after reading the part about “under penalty of perjury” ? In other words most of us aren’t without sins either so we shouldn’t pretend to be so self righteous .
But the argument I disagree with the most is that the 1070 law will make us safer. It is repeated over and over by the proponents and some politicians in their campaign ads. Even when the facts say they are wrong. FBI crime statistics show crime rates along the Mexican-Arizona border have actually gone down. The new law will have no affect on who and how many cross the border illegally. Actually, the more enforcement of illegal immigration we have in Arizona the more the “coyotes” will charge to smuggle them. And remember that kidnappings and human smuggling are not targeted at US citizens but the Mexicans who are desperate to come here. And don’t forget the drug smugglers. They are well armed, ruthless and creative. If you remember the first Jurassic Park movie, Ian Malcolm’s great line “life will find a way” when he was told all the safeguards and security in the park would prevent the animals from escaping. Today that line can be paraphrased to “smugglers will find a way”. And of course we choose not remember that we drive the demand in the drug market and for cheap labor.
The biggest benefit of 1070 may be if it provokes congress to pass real immigration reform and send enough resources to better secure the border. But if it doesn’t, the fear and frustration will spread to other states and Arizona will continue to be the center of controversy and the target of economic boycotts. The unintended consequences of this law may turn into a lose-lose situation for our state.
