Americans have been clamoring for Immigration reform for a while with the last major reform efforts introduced in congress being in 2005 by Senators McCain and Kennedy. While the federal government stalls, the states with their recent conservative majorities are racing to take the matter into their own hands so they can swiftly pass new anti-immigrant legislation as they see fit. Last April, Arizona passed S.B. 1070, a bill aimed to supposedly overhaul immigration in Arizona. In a nutshell, 1070 would give Arizona police officer/Deputy Sheriff's the authority to stop people by having them use their own judgment to identify possible illegal immigrants. Once identified, whether correctly or not, the possible immigrant must provide proof at that time that they are legally in the U.S. If not, standard detention/deportation procedures begin. Not only is the law discriminatory through racial profiling, many have argued that the law is unconstitutional as well for several reasons: encroaching on federal jurisdiction (this is the fed's domain), unequal privacy/protection of 14th amendment, unequal enforcement of law. In other words, unless it applies to all citizens equally there is no way to equally enforce it; that police officers will only detain anyone who looks like they are of non-European descent unless they can prove otherwise. This makes you guilty by way of how you look unless you carry papers, as they did in the Soviet Union before it collapsed! Once this law passed, people were justifiably outraged, joining boycotts that affected businesses in the state to signal their disapproval: canceling vacations, moving business conferences to other states, not buying goods from the companies based in AZ such as Southwest Airlines, Intel, and Blue Cross Blue Shield Arizona. Here's where it gets interesting...last week AZ introduced five even more extreme bills that would: remove birthright citizenship of 14th amendment for babies born to illegal immigrants, require hospitals to verify citizenship before care is given, requiring schools to check citizenship status of students, mandatory jail time for illegal immigrants caught driving without proof of citizenship, and landlords verifying the citizenship status of tenants. However, this time the businesses that suffered financially from the boycotts got together and presented a letter to the state legislature outlining the reasons why these bills should be voted down. They say that SB1070 had 'unintended consequences' and doing more harm than good by significantly affecting the state's 'economy'. Translated: it is hurting their bottom lines! In a tense vote, AZ conservatives voted with democrats and defeated these bills. Although it's too bad these bills were not defeated on purely moral grounds of outright discrimination, at least they will not become law, for now. There are those who have become even more determined to pass these bills not just in AZ, but similar legislation has been introduced in 16 other states. I guess when the Statue of Liberty says, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" it does not apply to those of non-European descent.
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