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.
Leave a Reply