I kind of created a little controversy last time I talked about illegal aliens here on my blog, lost some Facebook friends, all that jazz. I know I’m taking a risk bringing it up again, but if I don’t hold to what I believe just for stats and Facebook friends, what kind of person would I be?
You’ve probably heard that U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton struck down key parts of Arizona’s new legislation. I am not sad about that.
"There is a substantial likelihood that officers will wrongfully arrest legal resident aliens under the new (law)," Bolton ruled. "By enforcing this statute, Arizona would impose a ‘distinct, unusual and extraordinary’ burden on legal resident aliens that only the federal government has the authority to impose."
That is exactly the point a lot of us were hoping that she’d get.
It reminds me of something that happened when I lived in Ohio.
As I mentioned in my post before, I do know quite a few people who aren’t here legally. That is how this story starts. Two guys I knew were walking to the restaurant at 9:00 AM. A police officer stopped them to inquire of their status. They were doing nothing wrong. Just walking to work – in t-shirts, jeans, and tennies if that matters to anyone, they were dressed like anyone, ie: my brothers, would dress every day. (Because you know you can tell an illegal alien from the way they dress…but more about that later.)
That is racial profiling at it’s best.
He couldn’t legally do that. He did not know if they were legal or illegal by looking at them and he can NOT legally ask American citizens to prove their status when they are doing nothing wrong. (At least according to the immigration lawyer I talked to. Why did I talk to a lawyer? I did a lot of translation work for many people, including those who were here legally, trying to learn English, but weren’t proficient in it.)
That police officer came up to the restaurant and inquired about EVERYONE’S status. Including my own. I was doing nothing that would give a police officer cause to ask me anything other than how was I doing and wasn’t it a nice day out.
He was on a mission. He had called immigration and asked them to come arrest the 2 men. They wouldn’t come. They were busy with raids in other areas, not to mention, this wasn’t long after 9/11. ICE was overworked. They asked what crime the men had committed. The police officer said, being here illegally. They wanted to know what violent crime they had committed, otherwise they didn’t have resources to send someone out.
He thought if he did a workplace raid himself, he might get enough people rounded up for ICE to come out. The rest of us there were all legal, with paperwork to prove it.
I was actually highly offended that he wanted not only my license..no, that wasn’t good enough for him, he wanted my social security card (not just number – CARD), my kid’s birth certificate, a copy of my divorce decree giving me custody of my kid, he was a cop gone a tad mad. I was good with giving him my license. No problem, please be my guest, run it. The rest of the stuff, you don’t need. I haven’t done anything wrong. Would you like my ex-husband’s phone number?
I don’t know how many times I told him, “I am an American citizen. My son is an American citizen. We were both born in Iowa.” He assumed because I speak Spanish, have dark hair, dark eyes, hung out with Mexicans, etc, that I had to have been here illegally also. And he was going to prove it. Unfortunately, he couldn’t prove it, because I am an American citizen. No way around it.
While I understand his frustration at the feds not doing their job, you can’t just start racially profiling everyone you see and assume because you see someone who is Hispanic that they are here illegally.
Now Arizona wants a whole state of police officers doing just that. Signs that someone is here illegally?
- Lack of identification
- Possession of foreign identification
- Flight from police
- Voluntary statements (of a person not in custody for Miranda purposes)
- Foreign vehicle registration
- Being in the company of other unlawfully present aliens
- Being in a location known for unlawfully present aliens
- Being in an overcrowded vehicle
- Inability to provide an address
- Dress
- Demeanor (unusual or unexplained nervousness, erratic behavior, refusal to make eye contact)
- Significant difficulty communicating in English
I’ll agree that almost all of those except dress, demeanor, and speaking English, raises suspicion. Although, most illegals I know do not drive cars with foreign vehicle registration.
Dress – I know people who are here legally who still dress like they are going to a rodeo in Mexico. That proves nothing. I know illegals who shop at Old Navy and Aeropostale.
Demeanor – cops make a lot of people nervous. More so, people here from Mexico. If you haven’t seen any of the news on a lot of police officers in Mexico, it is corruption at it’s finest.
When we go to Mexico, I carry the money. Why? Because police officers will stop males and find someway to blackmail them for their money. How about this article. I’m not going to stick all Mexican police officers in the same group, but there is a much bigger problem with corruption in and amongst the Mexican police forces than I know of here in the states. They don’t trust the police because of it.
And as I said before, I used to translate for plenty of people here legally. English is a hard language to learn. They want to learn it. They try to learn it. It’s proven that the older we get, the harder it is to learn a second language. Then there are the young guys here, they speak English almost as well as I do, and guess what, some of them are illegal.
Overcrowded vehicle, I’ll give them that. I’ve pointed it out on the interstate, myself. An old car stuffed with people. A van filled to the brim. It makes me nervous. If there was a car accident (and there have been), those people are going to be seriously hurt or killed. You know there aren’t enough seat belts in a car for 15 people.
All in all, I’m glad she blocked parts of the law.
I don’t think the majority of the police officers would go out with the intention of racially profiling, but I think a lot of innocent citizens and people here legally on visas/green cards would get caught up in this net they are throwing out.
I think some missed it last time when I said that I do think we need the border secured and that we need immigration reform. I don’t think being here illegally is right, though I did say I could sympathize with families who have no hope and risk their life coming here. It’s not just a quick jaunt through a park to sneak into the United States. The death toll has soared in July with people trying to cross the desert. You have to be desperate to make that trip. Read that again, sympathize, not think that it’s right.
The way to do it though is come November, if you have a member of congress that isn’t fighting for immigration reform, that isn’t fighting for the border to be secured, that isn’t fighting for your state, vote them out. If the outrage is so high, people need to show it at the ballot box. Get representatives in there who will do their job and enforce laws the laws already on the book and reform the ones that aren’t working. Don’t vote for the one that has been there forever just because he has been there forever. Vote for someone who will fight.
Each state having their own set of immigration laws is not the answer. Immigration is a federal issue. The feds need to get off their butts and do something about it. Even with the whole immigration uproar in Arizona, have they taken it up in congress yet? Have they done anything about it?
I wrote one of my congressmen and I got a generic response that highlighted facts and figures and did not actually address any one of my concerns. I’ve voted for this man in every election since I have been able to vote. He won’t be getting my vote when it’s time for his election.
Stepping off my soap box.
If I offended anyone with this post because I have an opinion that differs from theirs, well, I’m not really sorry that I have an opinion, but I am sorry if I offended you. We’re not going to agree on everything all the time. What a boring world this would be if we did.
Have a great day!
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Hi Heather
You actually hit on a major point that makes SB1070 necessary for AZ. ICE simply doesn’t have the capacity to deal with the amount of illegal immgrants. One of the biggest goals of SB1070 is to give our police force the ability to hold illegal immigrants until ICE can pick them up. With nearly 500k people each year entering AZ illegally via the Mexican border, it is a huge problem here. It has a HUGE effect on our economy, from social services, to education, to healthcare, it is a drain on AZ.
Not only from a socio-economic standpoint but also jobs. They DO take jobs that Americans would like to have, but because they will take them for below minimum wage it saves employers a ton of $ to hire them instead, add that to the fact that only a small % of the $ they earn is even spent here, it is sent home, $ going back to Mexico is the largest contributer to Mexico’s GNP. There are too many ways that illegal immigration adversely affects America to continue turning a blind eye. If we cannot enforce the law, we are lost.
On enforcing the law, to clarify- the part on SB1070 about asking for proof of a legal right to be here is ONLY for when that person is already being questioned with regard to some other offense, it did not give our police a free ticket to run around bothering innocent people.
To put this into perspective, if you are in another country, lets say anywhere in Europe, and you have been stopped by their police for some infraction, wouldn’t you expect to be questioned about why you are there and for documents that support it? It’s not about race, it’s about having logical laws regarding immigration and being able to enforce them.
I’m sorry this is so long and I hope it did not offend….anyone. You know I didn’t read your earlier post and I will pass on that
There is a lot of ugly on both sides of this topic.
Wonderful Blog Heather!
Lynn
Lynn Reno´s most fabulous [type] ..I am taking better photos!
I thought I’d post part of my response to Lynn via email, I emailed her just in case she didn’t make it back to read it here.
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Hey Lynn! No offense taken at all! I’m glad you stopped by! I agree with you that ICE is not doing their job and things need to be taken care of. And I also think that police should naturally be asking questions if they pull someone over for an infraction and they don’t have valid ID …of everyone. I don’t think they should need a special law to do that. The feds need to get moving and do something. They can’t deport 13 million aliens in one fell swoop. But, that being said, I don’t agree with amnesty either. I actually liked McCain’s proposal before he switched sides. It’s one of the reasons I campaigned so hard for him when he was running for president. It’s funny, I’m a republican with democratic tendencies when it comes to immigration reform.
I also agree on the job thing. Both sides are being abused with this, with Americans not being able to get jobs and illegals being taken advantage of because they are willing to work long hours in bad conditions for little pay. My husband works in a Mexican restaurant because he wants to own his own someday, and he has the chance to learn the behind scenes where he works because he is friends with the manager. He tolerates the hours and the working for tips alone because he wants to know the ins and outs. But he has stated many times that when he finally opens his restaurant, that he won’t do it the way the other restaurants do. He’ll be paying the legal hourly wage, he’ll be doing everything right.
Also, though he speaks English fluently, with the anti-hispanic sentiment that has been going around, he prefers to work with other Mexicans. It’s kind of sad, it’s not just American businesses that abuse their power with Mexicans, it’s Mexican businesses too. Very little pay for long long long hours and the restaurant/business owners live in these huge houses driving the best cars, while their employees ride bikes to work or walk – and not for health reasons. I have to say, and I said this in the other post, though my husband just gets paid in tips, because he chooses to work there, we pay our taxes on that every year. We keep track of it and make sure we pay what is owed.
I just don’t understand with all the controversy that the Arizona law has caused why congress and President Obama haven’t jumped on the issue and moved. The problem just keeps getting worse and worse. There are lots of people who are good people, that wouldn’t come here illegally if they could come here legally. Quotas need to be changed. And they need to keep the bad out, the drug smugglers, the human smugglers, the murderers, the rapists, the kidnappers. If immigration was reformed, it at least would be a start to putting the human smugglers out of business and give more resources to the others. The coyotes (human smugglers) can be just as evil as the others. They’ll take your money, shoot you, and leave you in the desert for the animals. It bothers me a lot.
I think it makes it more real to me because I don’t just see the violent criminals, I see the ones who were desperate, who had no way to take care of their families in Mexico. I know them. I’ve become friends with them. It really personalizes the issue for me.
It is truly sad to see how other Hispanics are treating their own, not just Hispanics though, we see business owners of all ethnicities taking advantage of illegal immigrants, IMO they are way worse than American business owners. And the coyotes are just beneath being human
I know what you mean about him feeling more comfortable around other Mexicans…when DH and I first moved here I couldn’t get a job but was able to get some temp work at a production facility…..unfortunately I was the only non-Mexican there and I could not have been more ostracized by everyone there. It was unbelievably hard.
Thanks for the warm welcome!
Lynn
Lynn Reno´s most fabulous [type] ..I am taking better photos!