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or do they already have a bad rap, you got Sheriff Joe who is tough on crime, you got the new AZ immigration law and now you got a militia group guarding the border. I bet people thought a Southern state would do this first. Will people start to view AZ as they do the South, as in that negative perceptioin?
I support them, in my opinion they deserve our respect for having the guts to stand up to this. We should not forget that they live with the crime, the cost of the freeloading, and the altering of thier states culture. The federal goverment will not do its job and defend our borders so its up to the states on that border to do it. Im thinking about an Arizona vacation this year to show my support for them. Buy Arizona products, visit Arizona, this is the way to counter all the negativity being thrown at that state by left wing loons.
Considering 9 other states are joining them in there new laws, I think the state will come out fine. I think it is insane that they are being blasted this way for trying to uphold a law that the fed. gov. won't! I am with Arizona and the law all the way!!
This is a tough one for Arizona. I don't believe in racial/ethnic profiling. But I believe strongly in stopping illegal aliens from entering and staying in the U.S. There are illegal aliens from European countries too, albeit a much smaller number than from Latin American countries.
or do they already have a bad rap, you got Sheriff Joe who is tough on crime, you got the new AZ immigration law and now you got a militia group guarding the border. I bet people thought a Southern state would do this first. Will people start to view AZ as they do the South, as in that negative perceptioin?
Yes, there is going to be a backlash by many people. Lots of people see the Arizonia law as racist. On the other hand both political parties have been ignoring the illegal alien problem for years, probably because big corporate and business interests want the cheap labor.
Off topic a bit, but I am Independent who voted for Obama. I must say I am VERY disappointed in the Obama adminstration for opposing Arizonia while offering no realistic alternative first.
I am half convinced that the law really is a ploy to force the Federal Government to do something that both parties seem to want to ignore. If they don't do anything and they rule it unconstitutional, I figure someone or even Arizona again will pass an even more extreme version of the law.
Also it is mentioned here in Missouri that a very similar law has passed several years ago and nobody has said much about it. I think it is mainly due to there being among the lowest percentage of the population being illegal immigrants.
Whether this law will lead to racial profiling or not, who knows? Obviously there are many more latino people there than say Asian or eastern European countries, or any other country on earth trying to get in illegally. It shouldn't be racial, but there is just a huge number of primarily one ethnic group in that area, it's going to be hard to not look racially motivated, at least on paper and in the media. But you know what? So what! No matter what background you happen to be from, you should abide by the laws of the country you're immigrating to. I would expect no special treatment from Mexico, or Canada, or any other country for that matter. Laws are just that, LAWS. Without them we have anarchy. This should not be a republican vs democrat or liberal vs conservative issue or whatever. It should be law abiding vs those breaking the laws. I am so freaking sick and tired of all this politically correct BS. I don't care who you are or your skin color or where you're from, if you obey the laws and treat me and others with respect then I have no problem with you. If you don't then I've got a problem with you. It's as simple as that people. This country is turning into a nation of namby pambies! Good for AZ for at least trying to enforce the laws that are already there. It's because of issues like this and other personal reasons that I stay out of politics and never ever choose sides. Because everyone is wrong!
Location: Cleveland bound with MPLS in the rear-view
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Build a better wall if you want to keep illegals out. Racial profiling goes against the Constitution, which is as "American" as it gets. The solution that AZ inacted is the wrong solution to a problem that, I agree, needs to be taken care of, as illegal immigrants are causing more harm than good on the economy. I just don't feel that people of similar decscent who are here legally should be legally harassed by a -- and let's not kid ourselves here -- racist local agent.
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
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I believe Arizona could have handled the racial profiling part a lot better than it does given by that law.
I believe they should have had another alternative to border security, they made a step in the right path for their best interest but made a wrong turn in their final destination, if you understand what that means.
Basically, they should stop with the racial profiling, and use the federal funding to beef up the security on the border 10 fold, instead of having more people guarding they need some infrared sensors and better camera protection. They need ways to stop river entry possible a wall inside the river borderline that can make it harder to cross on over? Or some security inside the water itself?
I support the idea Arizona had, a state can only take so much drug violence and shootings of it's innocent citizens before it blows up, but the racial discrimination part could have been dealt with a better policy, as that is insulting to American people who do trace their roots to Mexican heritage.
Just my $0.02 on this. Don't know if anyone cares, but I am a moderate, I oppose both sides.
I feel the need to chime in here, although it probably belongs in the Illegal Immigration forum.
I completely support the new immigration law. This has been an issue for Arizona (and I'm sure other border states). Our country's Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, who was also governor of AZ before Jan Brewer stepped in, made repeated attempts to get more security at the border and also insisted that the government pay back AZ for the money the state has had to spend to incarcerate the illegal criminals, educate illegals, among other things. Janet seems to have forgotten this since becoming Sec. of Homeland Security. Jan Brewer picked up where Janet left off and continued to send letters to the government that went unanswered prior to SB1070.
The reasons for enacting a law such as SB1070 was not to pick on any specific race; however, it is VERY hard to ignore the fact that most illegals in AZ are from south of our border. The drug-trafficking, human smuggling, kidnappings, rapes, crime associated with illegals (and repeat offenders who re-enter the U.S.) as well as the cost to the state are the specific reasons for enacting this bill. In addition, it is quite surprising that the federal government doesn't seem to be as concerned about the threat of terrorists entering the U.S. through our southern border.
Arizona would not have had to enact a law in the first place had the federal government not ignored AZ and done its duty in securing the border and paid the bill for what is costing AZ millions.
There are many people out there who are still touting SB1070 as racially profiling. SB1070 strictly prohibits racial profiling and law enforcement cannot just stop someone to ask for papers (I don't know why people are ignoring this fact since it's been handed to them on a silver platter and talked about and talked about and talked about) ; however, the same people crying discrimination are failing to consider that while SB1070 mirrors the federal law (which the feds are failing considerably at), the federal law has stricter guidelines than SB1070, but why aren't people protesting that? I strongly suggest people either read the bill and understand it, or just not comment about it at all.
As far as how Arizonans are impacted by SB1070, we would all love to have a better quality of life here and not have to deal with the negatives that result from illegal immigration, and they ARE negatives. U.S. citizens of Mexican heritage (and other countries) should be appalled that they went through the legal process to become citizens here, when millions of others have completely bypassed the law of this land.
Arizona is painted out to be (by the liberal media) a quite conservative state (some even say racist), but it really isn't. It's a completely different animal. In the last election, it very well may have become a blue state if McCain had not ran for President. Arizona is very much a live-and-let-live state. It is more of a fiscally conservative state, but welcomes any type of lifestyle. In addition, within the last 20 years, there was a time when families could go to border towns like Nogales, MX and enjoy an entire day there eating/drinking/shopping, etc. Illegal immigration still happened, but it was less of a problem simply because there weren't the same numbers of people entering AZ and crime still happened, but it wasn't at the level (type of crime) that is is today. Regardless of the situation with SB1070, U.S. citizens of Mexican (or other) cultures, illegal immigrants, and Arizona citizens still interact on a daily basis like they did 10 years ago, but the extremists on both sides are the ones who get the media attention (ACLU, Reconquistas, Militia Movement...).
The bottom line is that the federal government needs to step up or shut up. They feel it is OK to sue the state of AZ for "bypassing" federal law when all it does is mirror it to a lesser degree; however, they feel it is OK for sanctuary cities to not enforce federal law. It is still against the law to enter this country illegally. There will be people (this includes the country of Mexico) out there who will try to play the victim (race) card and try to find any loophole in anything to use to their advantage to get some sort of monetary benefit or citizenship benefit because they are too lazy or unmotivated to try to make something of themselves and choose to blame everyone else for their failures or laziness, and then there are those individuals who go through the proper channels and legal processes and do not expect anything handed to them or try to enforce on everyone their sense of entitlement. You are in charge of your own destiny regardless of the hand dealt to you and although many people have been dealt a nasty hand (even those dealt a physical handicap), they've still found ways to find happiness or success without playing the victim card or committing a crime to do so.
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