Razing Arizona: Illegal aliens and disingenuous liberals

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In the wake of Arizona’s passage of its new immigration enforcement law, the inflamed, uninformed and irresponsible rhetoric coming from the open-borders crowd and supposedly respectable politicians who should know better seems to have grown by the day.

From the NY Times to the Washington Post to Barack Obama himself, there has been an avalanche of gross mischaracterizations of the law, inferring that it would allow police to simply stop anyone who “looks different” on the street and demand to “see their papers”.

The use of this phrase is no accident, but an intentional reference to authoritarian (and usually socialist) countries where the police have the right to stop anyone and demand, “Let me see your papers”.  It is at least somewhat comical, given that most of the people who are complaining the loudest about Arizona’s new law have recognizable tendencies towards socialism, the most high profile example being Obama himself.

Recently, while on yet another tour promoting the wonderful effects of the “stimulus” and ObamaCare, he suggested that “if you are a Hispanic American in Arizona…suddenly, if you don’t have your papers and you took your kid to get ice cream, you’re going to be harassed.”  Keep in mind that this is the same guy who just pushed through a law that will have 15,000 new IRS agents demanding to see “your insurance papers” every year, or else slap you with a fine and/or jail time for not having them.  And that applies to American citizens, not illegals.

In the case of Arizona’s new law, it only empowers police to use reasonable suspicion to request valid ID if the person in question has already been stopped or detained for some other offense.  In other words, it would only be a problem for someone who was breaking the law and was here illegally, as opposed to ObamaCare’s “no insurance papers” being a problem for several hundred million US citizens.

It should also be pointed out that since 1952, US federal law has required that legal aliens maintain their identification (such as a green card) on their person at all times.  But recognizing such facts makes it more difficult for hypocritical liberals to demagogue the issue.

Obama doesn’t mind being hypocritical however, because he has a clear agenda in mind.  The goal is to use the issue in hopes that Hispanics will replace the support Democrats have lost in the debates over bailouts, stimulus and ObamaCare.  Racial politics from our supposed “post-racial President”.

The liberal disingenuousness goes even further.  This past week, David Broder, dean of the Washington press corps, suggested that the fault for the current situation lies with those who fought against (and stopped) the 2007 bi-partisan efforts to pass “comprehensive immigration reform”.  Hogwash.  The “fault” lies with those who pushed the perverse bill to begin with.

Only in the upside down world of Washington, DC would the people who want the border enforced be seen as responsible for the continued flood of illegals.

First, as I always say, anytime you see the word “comprehensive” attached to any legislative effort, watch out, because that simply means that it will be so large and complex that it will contain numerous provisions that couldn’t possibly stand on their own.  The authors of such bills attach them like parasites to the other items that they know the public wants.  In terms of the 2007 legislation, it meant that they would agree to some of the border security the public desperately wants, but only if the public would support letting all illegals currently in the country to become legal.  Some deal.

In fact, that deal was overwhelmingly rejected by some 70-80% of the public on the grounds that it would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, not to mention the obvious moral implications of letting some fifteen to twenty million people break the law and jump ahead of millions of others who stand in line each year and play by the rules to come to our country legally.

In the case of Arizona, the plain and simple truth is that they have some very serious problems.  The state has an estimated half-million illegal aliens, has seen its citizens killed along the border and Phoenix has become the kidnapping capital of America.  The people of that state looked to their elected officials to do something and they responded – and over 70% of the people in that state approve.

That’s the way government is supposed to work.

If Washington politicians are going to sit on the sidelines and not do anything to address the problems people are concerned about – in a way that the public supports – then they should stay on the sidelines when state governments step up to do the job.