So Very Dicey

[holly_evolving]

Believe me, I understand the uproar over illegal immigration. I don't like the idea that people who don't pay taxes may benefit from my tax dollars (I don't like it when U.S. citizens who don't pay benefit from my taxes, either). It screws up school systems when the government doesn't know how many kids are there. I get it.

But I look at the arguments over laws like this one: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100426/ap_on_re_us/us_immigration_enforcement_69

And I get very nervous. What, exactly, are the criteria for "thinking someone might be illegal?" What can they possibly be looking at, other than skin color and language? Being brown doesn't make you illegal. Neither does not speaking English. The United States of America does not have a legally mandated language. As long as people like me are voting, it will not have one. Yes, it makes my life difficult sometimes. But I don't speak Leni Lenape, so really, how could I bitch about not speaking like the natives?

I'm not required to carry I.D. at all times proving that I'm a citizen. I keep my driver's licence on me, but that's required to prove I can legally operate a car. That's not the same thing. If I'm just walking down the street, it's illegal to stop me and ask to see my I.D.

If we start allowing states to demand to see green cards or other I.D.s to prove that a brown Spanish-speaker is legally here, what comes next?


The Martin Niemoller poem:
"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came...

If we don't stand up for the rights of every American, no matter their color, language, or origin, then the rights of all Americans are threatened.

Comments

[warriorsmurf.livejournal.com]

That shit is ridiculous. We rely on illegal migrant labor for agriculture. Laws like that are more racist and short-sighted.

[daeron.livejournal.com]

As I understand it, this won't hold up against the first federal challenge it gets. There have been similar laws made in other areas (at state and local level) and each time the law in question got struck down because immigration laws (which this is) are reserved to the Federal government (because immigration falls under the heading of "Foreign Affairs" which only the federal government is allowed to conduct).

[wolf-nd-shadows.livejournal.com]

http://www.facebook.com/#!/note.php?note_id=252550152712&id=130496628631&ref=share

[holly-evolving.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there's that too.

[cullyn.livejournal.com]

Lets face it... If the federal government really cared about this, they would go after the business markets that pay illegal immigrant workers under the table. The best argument is that they don't pay taxes and I agree. But obviously, the federal government doesn't want to attack these businesses. In my opinion, you'd knock out most of the problem right there.

[holly-evolving.livejournal.com]

What worries me more in this particular instance is that this law allows AZ cops to demand the papers of every brown person they see, and detain U.S. citizens if they forgot them in their other pants. Which is a violation of federal law.