Immigration and a Police State
Does that sound too alarmist? I confess I’m always trying to find ways to write headlines that attract attention and I’m not very good at it. But I’m not sure that’s too alarmist for what’s going on in Arizona right now.
I spent some time in Texas when I was in the Air Force, and I experienced searches when traveling near the border and traveling on a bus. No, I wasn’t searched or required to produce ID (I was not in uniform), but all the people who “looked illegal” were required to do so. We tend not to complain about such things when they do not impact us personally, but there is a great danger there.
Making laws that are very difficult to enforce is going to produce enforcement methods that are difficult to justify. Once those enforcement methods are in place, we may have trouble getting them removed when the law applies to someone else–someone like us.
I want to call your attention to a good blog post on this by Pastor Bob Cornwall on Ponderings on a Faith Journey. There are several things that Bob recognizes that people often ignore. First, he does realize that illegal immigration creates problems, especially for people on the border states. Enforcement such as requiring employers to get proper documentation is a valid method of enforcement. Second, he recognizes what some people on the other side fail to notice, that once you have a few million people in place, the “send them back home” solution isn’t as simple as it may look. Third, he recognizes that states are responding to a failure to deal with the problem at the federal level. It certainly is a federal problem, but it’s not one of the easier ones on which to build consensus.
We have a number of issues that tend to lead toward over-policing, including immigration and drug policy. As time goes on, I believe we’ll find that the costs of attempts to solve these problems will become greater than the problems themselves. Unless, of course, we get creative and try looking for real, balanced solutions.
Henry, thank you for posting this.
This issue is a complex one. It is also one that requires a federal solution, and yet at a time when there is almost a separatist mentality in the nation, reaching that solution will be difficult. This one will require that we all listen to each other!
I lived in Tucson just a couple years ago and there really is a severe problem with illegal immigration that a lot of people cant really comprehend because they haven’t had to live with it. The status quo simply cannot sustain itself. We left the state in large part because of what the illegal immigration has done to the school systems there. There is a reason Arizona ranks at or near the bottom in nearly every measurable for public school performance. Private schooling is nearly a must for any sort of quality education there. Again, unless you have experienced it, it is difficult to understand. I think, however, that the media is hugely biased in it’s coverage and attempting to frame Arizona’s action as negatively as possible. They aren’t covering the fact that most polls show that a majority (approx 60%) of Americans support the ability for a police officer to verify immigration status and that in Arizona the support is near 80% according to polling.
Secondly, the media and all the law’s detractors are assailing law enforcements handling of the issue without even knowing how the law will be implemented. There really can be enforceable guidelines that can reign in rampant civil liberty violations and yet still allow for reasonable verification procedures by local law enforcement. Those who protest ought to be looking to work with law enforcement rather than polarizing the issue. Again, the status quo cannot sustain itself.
In the end, the threat to liberty is being blown out of proportion for political gain. Government demands ID from legal citizens for a myriad of reasons and as a precursor to access services and benefits. Private companies are even worse. People are using reducto ad absurdum arguments to try and negate the law, when in fact there is usefulness in allowing police to verify citizenship when the opportunity presents itself during their normal duties.
Larry – I appreciate your input as a conservative and realistic voice, yet on this issue I disagree with you profoundly. When I was studying political science during the cold war, before I changed my major to Biblical Languages, one of the characteristics of the Soviet Union that we deplored was the fact that you needed papers just to move around.
Now more and more we are beginning to require that in this country. I understand the fear that prompts such measures, but I think we will wake up somewhere down the road and see that the measures we have taken in three areas, drug enforcement, immigration, and counter-terrorism, have resulted in a serious degradation of liberty.
On this one I am very much the libertarian, though I don’t oppose all forms of immigration enforcement. Nonetheless, I will be extremely amazed if Arizona authorities find a way of implementing this bill which is not excessively hazardous to liberty, and I think it is too great a price to pay.
Henry,
I am a bit torn by my position, and had I not lived in Arizona, I think I might agree more with your concerns. It’s one of the few times where my experience is overriding my reason. And with any hot button issue like this, it is good to encounter people with major differences to constantly test and evaluate my conclusions. So thanks for posting your thoughts on this.
I think there are 2 different issues here. First is national security. Could terrorist enter the country under the guise of poor people trying to cross the border. That is a legitimite concern. How do you weed these people out?
The second issue is the amount of people trying to cross the border and why they are doing so. I totally understand the people’s position who feel they are being beseiged. But my greater concern is the conditions of the people who are coming over. What kinds of lives are they living that they would leave there homes, their country and come to a place that they know they are not welcome, but feel they must? Can a person who is trying to follow Christ’s example not help those in need?
Which leads to my next concern, why are we (meaning us, our Federal Government) not putting pressure on the Mexican government (and lets be real, that is where most of the illegal immigration is coming from) to create humane living conditions within their country? We brought down the USSR and the Eastern Block. I think we should be able to convince Mexico to treat their own people with compassion and respect.
The resulting decrease in illegal immigration would then produce 1) people living in Mexico with dignity and pride. 2) Slow the stream of illegal immigration leading to 3) Make securing our border against terrorist much easier.
Walls, National Guard, whatever it is… it’s all just bandaid solutions. If you are in a car accident, a tourniquet will get you to the hospital and keep you from bleeding to death. But if the cause can’t be found and treated you are dead. The same is true here. The Border Patrol is needed for a first line of defense. But if we don’t treat the cause and do the right thing, we cannot expected any of of immegration problems to be solved.