Rick Raw: Arizona’s Immigration Law Overreaction to Illegal Alien Crisis

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net

Arizona’s controversial new immigration law underscores the state’s bigoted past. It was the last state to make Martin Luther King a holiday. The state gave in only when the boycotts and lack of government funds hurt the state’s economy.

"Okay, you win we’ll make Martin Luther King Day a holiday but we think that Negro was a rabble rouser," the then Governor could have said.

And I thought Florida was the bastion of right wing conservatism. Yes, Florida is a dumb state, but Arizona’s Govenor takes the prize for the most bonehead move by signing this unconstitutional law that allows the police to decide who to stop anyone without probable cause and ask for their legal immigration papers.

This knee jerk reaction by the Arizona legislature expresses the deep frustration in our inability to properly police our borders. The truth is: Illegal aliens are pouring across the border with only token efforts to stop them. The undermanned U.S. Border Patrol is impotent to stop the massive influx of illegal aliens swarming like locust into the U.S.

Drug smuggling is also an unstoppable juggernaut caused by the insatiable demand for Mexican product (marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine) in the United States.

People are going to get high come hell or high water. Prohibition proved that. We’re all taking legal or illegal drugs for our anxiety or depression. In the case of illegal drugs, getting high is the motivation–a brief respite from the daily BS we all have to take. It’s like having a few beers at happy hour.

In previous commentary, I’ve advocated legalization as the only way to stop this multibillion dollar business currently controlled by the ruthless Mexican cartels. There is so much money involved, the cartels have more money and resources than the government.

In fact, today there is so much corruption in the Mexican army and police, the cartels call the shots. "They say, gold or lead?" meaning take the money or you are dead! So, everyone takes the money–usually hundreds of times more than what they legitimately earn working for the government.

A high percenage of the illegal aliens come here to find work that pays much more than they could earn in Mexico. Many farmers depend on this transient labor to get their crops picked and processed.

These illegals don’t mind working hard at jobs that Americans refuse to accept. These undocumented workers are not hurting anyone and when they earn enough money, they go back to Mexico to their families.

This system has been in place for many years. Granted, there seem to be many more illegals in the heartland and the East and West Coasts, over-staying their welcome.

Common sense dictates that there should be a system in place to help them get documented without penalty. But the anti-immigration lobby uses the drug smugglers as an excuse to rally opposition proselytizing fear of hardened criminals coming across the border in droves.

The misconception that illegal aliens are coming across the border and stealing American jobs is overstated by mass hysteria. Sure it happens in some construction firms, but it is closely watched by the immigration police, ICE. The economic apocalypse of 2008 is to blame for our massive unemployment and lack of new jobs.

Yes, it’s human nature for people get all worked up when they see Spanish speaking people moving into their neighborhoods. However, we must remember that America was founded by immigrants and the same is true today. Other cultures add diversity to our culture and make America a more interesting place to live.

It’s time for new thinking about the immigration issue using common sense with respect, dignity, and humanity to people who are trying to better their lives, just like the original immigrants who came here and braved the harsh conditions for freedom to seek their own destinies.