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defrogSo I get back from mainland China and check my voicemail, and it’s loaded with messages from Wolf Blitzer, Lou Dobbs and Neil Cavuto asking me to comment on this immigration reform bill that’s been passed and signed in Arizona and can I please call them back ASAP.
Which of course I shall not do, because I know better. But because I’m a nice guy with opinions, I’ll post something here about it, and everyone is hereby authorized to quote from it.
DISCLAIMER: I’m hardly objective about the immigration issue since (1) I’m currently an immigrant in another country and (2) the bridal unit would be an immigrant by default if we ever move back to the US. The other thing you should know is that I’ve never really considered illegal immigration to be all that big a deal – the way I see it, if you want in the country bad enough and you can actually get past the guards, you win – but I do appreciate that some southwest border cities and states consider it a bigger deal. Fair enough.
Basically, I look at the specific Arizona law from two angles:
1. Does the bill solve the stated problem?
I don’t see how, if only because the premise of the bill seems to be this: “If we make it easier for the police to arrest and jail illegal immigrants, we’ll have far less illegal immigrants and prevent more from coming here.” I seriously doubt this will be the case. You’ll certainly end up with more illegal immigrants in jail, but I don’t know that it will result in less illegal immigrants coming to Arizona.
Illegal immigration is already a federal crime by definition, which is clearly not a deterrent to people poor and/or desperate enough to slip to the US, so I don’t see how making it a state crime will make future illegals think twice (though I guess it might make illegal immigration a bigger problem for New Mexico and California).
2. Does it create more problems than it solves?
There is evidence that illegal immigrants do have a positive impact on the economy, even to the point of offsetting whatever govt resources or other costs they might incur. I’m not saying Tom Tancredo is a hysterical xenophobic liar. I’m just saying maybe it hasn’t occurred to him or the IRLI (the conservative anti-immigration group behind this bill) that what taxpayers save in, say, welfare expenditures might be wiped out by the cost of providing the resources necessary to round up and jail foreigners.
Ignoring that, though, there is decidely a serious civil rights problem in authorizing the police to stop you and demand to see documentation proving that you are from here (which evidently means yr birth certificate – and there’s an Orly Taitz joke there but I don’t have time for that now).
And if you think the police will only stop and detain illegals and not US citizens, you’d be wrong. Which means everyone in Arizona had better be prepared to provide sufficient documentation on demand. Well, at least all of the brown ones. (Look, I don’t like playing the race card either, but let’s admit it – the odds of Arizona cops suspecting white people of being illegal immigrants are next to zero, if only because of the geography.)
Which is another thing – not all cops are particularly crazy about the bill for pretty much the same reasons. Community goodwill does matter.
So all up, I don’t see any real benefits for anyone except the people who like to blame Johnny Foreigner for all their problems. But then I don’t live in Arizona, and I might be missing some points, so those of you who are closer to the front lines on this, feel free to set me straight.
And I’m not saying we shouldn’t enforce the law, but I’ve always figured the real problem comes down to the fact that it’s so hard for people to immigrate legally in the first place (especially after 9/11). If the problem is that these people aren’t legal, why not make them legal, or make it easier to come in legally? The Economist has a nice roundup of the benefits of immigrant labor and know-how, so why not make it easier to tap into that?
Of course, that only applies if the pro-crackdown crowd’s only objection to all the immigrants in their communities is that they’re not in the country legally. If not ... well, res ipsa loquitur.
And in conclusion, may I remind you that it does not say ‘RSVP’ on the Statue Of Liberty.
Dance across the Rio Grande,
This is dF
Which of course I shall not do, because I know better. But because I’m a nice guy with opinions, I’ll post something here about it, and everyone is hereby authorized to quote from it.
DISCLAIMER: I’m hardly objective about the immigration issue since (1) I’m currently an immigrant in another country and (2) the bridal unit would be an immigrant by default if we ever move back to the US. The other thing you should know is that I’ve never really considered illegal immigration to be all that big a deal – the way I see it, if you want in the country bad enough and you can actually get past the guards, you win – but I do appreciate that some southwest border cities and states consider it a bigger deal. Fair enough.
Basically, I look at the specific Arizona law from two angles:
1. Does the bill solve the stated problem?
I don’t see how, if only because the premise of the bill seems to be this: “If we make it easier for the police to arrest and jail illegal immigrants, we’ll have far less illegal immigrants and prevent more from coming here.” I seriously doubt this will be the case. You’ll certainly end up with more illegal immigrants in jail, but I don’t know that it will result in less illegal immigrants coming to Arizona.
Illegal immigration is already a federal crime by definition, which is clearly not a deterrent to people poor and/or desperate enough to slip to the US, so I don’t see how making it a state crime will make future illegals think twice (though I guess it might make illegal immigration a bigger problem for New Mexico and California).
2. Does it create more problems than it solves?
There is evidence that illegal immigrants do have a positive impact on the economy, even to the point of offsetting whatever govt resources or other costs they might incur. I’m not saying Tom Tancredo is a hysterical xenophobic liar. I’m just saying maybe it hasn’t occurred to him or the IRLI (the conservative anti-immigration group behind this bill) that what taxpayers save in, say, welfare expenditures might be wiped out by the cost of providing the resources necessary to round up and jail foreigners.
Ignoring that, though, there is decidely a serious civil rights problem in authorizing the police to stop you and demand to see documentation proving that you are from here (which evidently means yr birth certificate – and there’s an Orly Taitz joke there but I don’t have time for that now).
And if you think the police will only stop and detain illegals and not US citizens, you’d be wrong. Which means everyone in Arizona had better be prepared to provide sufficient documentation on demand. Well, at least all of the brown ones. (Look, I don’t like playing the race card either, but let’s admit it – the odds of Arizona cops suspecting white people of being illegal immigrants are next to zero, if only because of the geography.)
Which is another thing – not all cops are particularly crazy about the bill for pretty much the same reasons. Community goodwill does matter.
So all up, I don’t see any real benefits for anyone except the people who like to blame Johnny Foreigner for all their problems. But then I don’t live in Arizona, and I might be missing some points, so those of you who are closer to the front lines on this, feel free to set me straight.
And I’m not saying we shouldn’t enforce the law, but I’ve always figured the real problem comes down to the fact that it’s so hard for people to immigrate legally in the first place (especially after 9/11). If the problem is that these people aren’t legal, why not make them legal, or make it easier to come in legally? The Economist has a nice roundup of the benefits of immigrant labor and know-how, so why not make it easier to tap into that?
Of course, that only applies if the pro-crackdown crowd’s only objection to all the immigrants in their communities is that they’re not in the country legally. If not ... well, res ipsa loquitur.
And in conclusion, may I remind you that it does not say ‘RSVP’ on the Statue Of Liberty.
Dance across the Rio Grande,
This is dF
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Oh those whacky illegals...
on 2010-04-27 04:11 am (UTC)Which of course translates to:
Repub admin: Build a wall to keep those dirty people out and protect America, by god.
Dem admin: The wall is being built to keep us walled in and destroy our liberties by stepping on us with the socialist boot.