A law cracking down on illegal immigration was recently passed in the Arizona state legislature and is currently waiting to be signed into law by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer.
Among other things (such as placing restrictions on hiring day laborers and making it a criminal offence to knowingly transport illegal immigrants), this law would require law enforcement officers to verify the immigration status of any person displaying “reasonable suspicion” of being in our country illegally (such as offering day labor on street corners, disregard for other laws, lack of residence, etc). It would also make it a criminal violation for that person to lack proper alien registration documentation.
Critics of this bill say that it will condone and encourage racial profiling, since it will require officers to verify someone’s immigration status if there is just “reasonable suspicion” that they are in the country illegally. This changes the current law, which only allows officers to question someone’s immigration status if they are involved in another crime.
These points are valid in one sense. Though the bill states that officers cannot stop a person based solely on their color or race, this law probably will lead to some legal citizens (or legal aliens) being required to prove that they are in fact, legal. It’s unfortunate to cause law-abiding people inconvenience, but it would be naive to think that this won’t happen at all.
But critics of this bill are missing a very important staple in their argument: This law was designed to be a deterrent. If an illegal is afraid to do something (get a job, apply for federal benefits, rent housing, etc.) for fear of being caught, they will not do that thing. Similarly, if employers are afraid of hiring illegals for fear of being fined, they will require employees to verify their immigration status and they will not hire illegals. If these things are enforced, illegal aliens are less likely to want to come here.
Our government was designed to protect the Rights of the People, and it is our duty to provide the safeguards necessary to ensure that our laws are not broken and our freedoms are not infringed upon. Illegal immigrants are breaking our laws by even setting a foot onto our soil, and like the old saying goes: When you break a rule, it doesn’t just hurt you, it hurts everyone. By committing the crime of entering our country illegally, these people are not only disregarding our legal system and mooching off tax-payer funded services, they are causing problems for legal immigrants who do respect the law and the process of immigration in our county.
The best solution to this is to send illegal immigrants back where they belong, and that’s what this law will help to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment