The ink hadn’t even dried from Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s signature on the anti-illegal immigration law written by the state legislature before the shrieks and howls and wailing and gnashing of teeth began in earnest in the media.
“This is racial profiling!” they screamed. “What about civil liberties?” “All this does is discriminate against Hispanics!” they moaned.
Wow, what a fuss. Fury erupted because Arizona lawmakers had had enough and decided to become the first state to have the guts to give police the authority to do the unthinkable: enforce the law.
Some concept, huh? Actually letting cops do their jobs. So when an Arizona police officer pulls someone over for speeding or weaving through traffic and they discover that the driver has absolutely no identification on them and is barely capable of speaking English, that officer might conclude that the driver is in Arizona illegally. Ask any cop and they’ll assure you that it doesn’t exactly take a forensics team from NCIS to figure out that someone is an illegal.
But ACLU-loving, America-hating bunch that seems to think illegal immigrants deserve weekly ticker-tape parades down Main Street is mortified at Arizona’s chutzpah. They’re upset that at least in ONE state, the jig is finally up.
For too long now, the apologists for illegal immigrants have played a little game. They pretend to understand that the act of sneaking across the border and taking up residence in America is against the law. They even profess discomfort at illegals getting free health care, taking jobs that could belong to American citizens, and occupying seats in our country’s already overcrowded classrooms.
But they expect everyone to ignore the problem. They insist that illegal immigration is a federal concern and therefore oppose any effort for local law enforcement -- the real soldiers in the trenches -- to be able to do anything about it. It’s as if they believe there’s a magical, mythical federal army of illegal immigration watchdogs that just hasn’t quite yet gotten around to arresting illegals.
But it’s just a game to these folks. They resist enforcement of our illegal immigration laws and pretend to pawn the problem off on the feds so that the problem will never get solved.
Well, Arizona just took a giant step towards rectifying the situation. Polls show over 70% of state residents support the Senate bill that Gov. Brewer signed into law. I’ll bet the national percentage is even higher.
We are, after all, a nation of laws. And we live in a culture where carrying a form of identification is as normal as keeping your car keys in your pocket. When any of us walk into a grocery store and cashes a check, no one skips a beat when asked to present our driver’s license. If a police officer is looking for a criminal, he or she might stop a number of people in that particular area and ask to see their driver’s license. No one bellyaches about civil rights or privacy issues. We’re just happy the cops are trying to find the bad guy.
Hispanics have expressed concern that Arizona police officers will abuse this law and harass and intimidate “people of color.” Well, most logical, clear-thinking people don’t worry that cops are going to start rounding up Hispanics, throwing them in the trunk of their police car, and haul them out to the woods somewhere and beat them to death.
If any person -- white, black, brown or yellow -- objects to having a police officer potentially ask them for their ID, it makes me wonder what that person is trying to hide.
The classic media meltdown over the Arizona law came on CNN where a young Hispanic Army medic about to be deployed was interviewed by a reporter named Thelma Gutierrez (heaven forbid someone named “Buffy Smith” would be assigned this story). The young man was busily lighting candles on the steps of the state house, explaining that his family brought him here -- illegally -- when he was two years old and they all eventually became naturalized citizens. Now, he’s so ashamed of Arizona that he practically doesn’t want to live there anymore.
I honor his service to our country. I’m sorry his parents set such a lousy example for him that their illegal act became part of his life story. But I wonder if he realizes that roads between the United States and Mexico run north AND south. And I hope CNN does a follow-up interview with him when he, God willing, returns safely from Iraq and describes how soldiers do more than a little “racial profiling” in their ongoing battle with terrorists.
But here in the United States, Arizona just became the torch-bearer in doing the right thing when it comes to dealing with illegal immigrants.
Here’s hoping the other 49 state legislatures are paying attention. Let’s not make Arizona be alone in its act of bravery.
Who’s next?