Following the murder of Tucson-area rancher Rob Krentz by an illegal alien, along with countless heinous crimes committed by myriad of the more than 450,000 illegals in Arizona, the Grand Canyon State found itself in dire straits and passed SB 1070 simply because the federal government refused to do its job.
Signed into law by the courageous Gov. Jan Brewer (R), SB 1070 uses much of the language of the federal law in an effort to tamp down on illegal immigration. The legislation requires local law enforcement to question people about their immigration status including asking for identification if people are suspected of being in the United States illegally.
There is nothing racist about being asked for identification. One must present it when voting or boarding an airplane and in some cases, like writing a check, two forms of ID are required. Are those circumstances of racism? Am I being profiled when I go to vote? Certainly not.
To those folks berating Arizona, calling for boycotts, calling Brewer Hitlers daughter, as seen on protest signs: What part of illegal do you not understand?
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) supports amnesty. Fine. All illegals should move to her district. The local government can raise their own taxes to afford the demands of the illegals and keep their hands out of the pockets of the rest of America.
The federal government must stop incentivizing illegals with the aforementioned benefits and citizenship via the Fourteenth Amendments anchor baby disgrace that should be re-amended. The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution guaranteed citizenship to the children of Americas newest citizens freed slaves people who had not been citizens prior to its passage.
SB 1070 is not political hyperbole. While Mexican President Felipe Calderon talks a good game about ending drug trafficking and homicides at Mexicos northern border, he is disingenuous. Try crossing north into Mexico from Guatemala or Belize. The laws in Mexico are infinitely more Draconian than in the United States.
President Barack Obama, who called the Arizona measure misguided, and a poorly conceived law, apparently has not read the federal law. It is Obama who is misguided and out of touch with the desires of the citizens of the United States. A recent Rasmussen poll indicated 61 percent in favor of SB 1070 in the United States, and 70-percent support of the legislation within Arizona. Additionally, 75 percent of those surveyed said the southern borders are not protected.
We had no other choice we will protect ourselves, Brewer said. Brewer smartly opposes amnesty which failed in 1986 when there were roughly three million illegal aliens in the country. Today, estimates range from 12 to 15 million to as high as 20 million.
After another round of amnesty, consider how many people will feel emboldened to invade our porous borders and that is exactly what is happening: We are being invaded.
If I had my druthers every illegal alien would be deported without the chance of legal return. But before people start calling me a Nazi, there is a tremendous difference between illegals being deported from the United States and the rounding up of Jewish citizens. The people who have snuck across the border either from Canada or Mexico and are in the United States illegally have broken the law and should be punished according to the law of the land. Jewish citizens of Germany were rounded up and deported simply for being Jewish.
As an observant Jew, I resent Cardinal Roger Mahony comparing Arizonas SB 1070 to Nazism. It was an incendiary remark designed to stir up emotions of people who may or may not have knowledge of the history of the Nazi systematic slaughter of European Jewry.
There is a solution.
First, secure the borders by any means necessary electric fence, military on the border whatever it takes. This will employ people. Until that time, turn the spigot off. Once the borders are secure, then legal immigration can again be considered. Residents of countries deemed unfriendly to the United States should not be granted entry.
If amnesty becomes reality, it must come with price tags. If illegals are given work visas, they must pay a penalty for having been in the country illegally in the first place. The same should be imposed upon the employers who hire illegal aliens.
The next stick to be coupled with the carrot of living freely in the United States, is that no current illegal alien should be allowed a path to citizenship or the right to vote, thus taking away the incentive of politicians to kowtow to lobbyists and immigrant groups.
American citizens are flummoxed by how the federal government can give illegal aliens benefits that citizens cannot enjoy. Such profligacy will only prove deleterious to the whole of the American economy and before anyone is aware, the United States will become Greece.
With Arizona taking the lead and Michigan, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina working on similar legislation, perhaps the federal government will wake up, and actually do its job. Dont hold your breath.
Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria.
