Really America, I thought we were beyond this...Part 2

What's up everybody, I hope all two of you enjoyed my last blog. I went back and read my othre blogs. Other than the one about Proposition 8, I thought all the other ones were pretty funny and silly. I also understand that both of you may have thought that I made up the story in my last blog. I would like to assure you that I'm not that creative, the story is completely true. I only changed the name of my assistant principal. So I guess today I want to get back into another thing that makes me angry, sorry bro. Today we are going to talk about people who are angry about illegal immigration. This has been on my mind since a friend of mine began posting comments on her Facebook page. A huge discussion grew from that, which resulted in hurt feelings and strained relationships.

So this friend I have is also a teacher. She has been having a discussion with a couple of friends about the immigration "reform" law that was passed in Arizona. In short, this law gives police officers the authority to ask any citizen tat it suspects of being an illegal immigrant for documentation to prove that they are a legal citizen of the United States of America. Not only that, but any city that is suspected of not enforcing these rules can be sued. From what I hear, documentation is either a US Passport, US Birth Certificate, or immigration papers that show you are a legalized citizen. I actually tried to verify the requirements to prove citizenship but couldn't find any, so if anyone could point me to information about that, it would be much appreciated. As a result of the conversation, a thought popped into my head. I'm wondering how does a person tell the difference between an illegal immigrant from Canada and an American citizen of Caucasian or European American decent. I mean it's hard enough to tell Irish Americans from Welsh Americans apart. But to require police to tell the difference without advanced training in linguistics and behavorioral patterns of Canadians in contrast with the American citizens from towns and cities near the Canadian border is ridiculous. Talk about a losing battle. And this is only one example, we haven't even discussed any of the 50 or so countries in Europe. Eventually, what's going to happen is that all people of European decent will be profiled in an attempt to keep their cities and towns from being sued. If I were of European decent, I would be outraged that this is actually law. Simply because of the color of your skin, you are going to start being asked if you're a citizen. Not only that, if you don't have your documentation handy, you will be incarcerated for three days. If you still cannot get your documentation while you are in jail in those three days, you will be deported. So good luck to all of you in Arizona, you're gonna need it.

So I guess that what I was saying isn't exactly true because we all know that the only illegal immigrants we have in the United States are Hispanic or Latino, right? I mean, even my students are saying things like, "it's hard to tel a Canadian illegal immigrant from an American citizen." Then I look at my hand and aske them to define an American citizen. ***for those who don't know, I'm Black*** He said us. I then looked and said it's pretty easy to tell a Canadian immigrant from myself or Raphael, who is an American citizen also. So I guess that what we have here are two different issues.

The first issue is our definition of an American citizen. I would argue that just as it is hard to distinguish a Hispanic or Latino American from an illegal immigrant from Latin America, South America, or the Caribbean Islands; it is equally as hard to distinguish a European or Canadian American from an illegal immigrant from any of these regions. The problem is that most Americans identify only Americans of European decent as being American, along with the occasional Black or African American. There's not that many people who see Latino, Hispanic, Asian, Pacific Islander, African or Middle Eastern as being American citizens or naturalized citizens. The mindset is that these aforementioned ethnicities are seen as being illegal immigrants. This is where the real profiling comes into play. I doubt that anyone in Arizona that is White will worry about being asked to show documentation. If I were a European illegal immigrant, I'd flock to Arizona. Why? Because I would look like everyone else, and this bill is obviously targeted toward Hispanic and Latino cultures. This is the reason everyone is shouting out about securing our borders. In Arizona, the only border this border is between Mexico and Arizona.

The second issue deals with how this is being done. Again, we have a situation where the law is being manipulated to target and discriminate against a culture of people. Now, it might be said to be "consistent" with the Federal laws, however, I'm sure the enforcement will not be equal under the laws. I'm willing to bet that the only people who appear to be engaging of "suspicious" behavior will be those who are Latino or Hispanic. I would also like to know what are suspicious behaviors that the law enforcement professionals will be looking for. That would be interesting to see put in a newspaper article or a blog.

If I were a citizen of Arizona, I would be upset. There are many far reaching implications from this bill that I don't think many people talk about.

• First, it opens your town up for inevitable lawsuits. Either cities are going to be sued for harassment of it's citizens or cities are going to be sued for not upholding the law. The result is going to be that if anyone in the city does not have their birth certificate with them, they will be arrested. If they arrest enough people, either the citizens will move out of Arizona, or they will sue for harassment. Or on the flip side, the cities aren't going to enforce the law, which will allow them to get sued.
  
• Second, if they actually uphold the law, the economy will falter. This will occur when people actually start being thrown in jail for not having identification. People will not be able to show up for work because they will either be detained or deported. I guarantee that trucks will stop driving through Arizona if the law starts to be enforced. People will move from Arizona in order to find a place where they will not have the possibility to be harassed every time they go to a restaurant, the store, gas stations, to pick up their kids.
• Third, eventually they will not be able to house all of the detainees who do not have proper documentation. Arizona will run out of jail space, or they will have to spend more money building jails.
• Lastly, what do you do when a mother has her birth certificate, but she doesn't have the birth certificates of her children. Do you arrest and detain the children? What if their house burns down and everything was destroyed, do you deport the children if they can't produce documentation in three days? Where do you deport people who are US citizens, but can't produce documentation while being incarcerated? Just some questions I have.

So here's my advice. Repeal the law. I understand that many people feel that illegal immigration is wrong. Don't believe me, ask the American Indian tribes how they feel about the issue. I'm sure they've got a little bit of historical insight on the subject. I bet in retrospect, the American Indian tribes would have poisoned the corn on that first thanksgiving, knowing what they know now...I'm just kidding, I'm sure they're exstatic at how things have turned out. In all seriousness though, there are better and more effective ways to deal with this issue. We can't react out of frustration because that never ends well. If the law isn't repealed, I would just start filing lawsuits, because this law is really unenforceble due to to the breadth and scope the nature of illegal immigration. The shear number of lawsuits and the cost for defense will financially hurt Arizona, especially it being in the middle of a recession. So figure it out law professors, it can't be that hard. This isn't be being angry or militant, I'm just thinking out loud.