The Immigration Issue

I'm probably asking for trouble but I have been shocked lately by the attitude of many over the Arizona immigration law and I think that many of these people are confused that by being against this law, you are somehow in support of illegal immigration. This is hardly the case. I feel that if you are here illegally, you should be deported - after it is proven that you are here illegally of course. However, the issue that I and many others have with the Arizona Immigration law is that police will have the right to ask for proof of citizenship if you "look" illegal. There are so many immigrants in this country that came here legally. How do you visually differentiate between a legal immigrant and an illegal one? You can't and herein lays the problem. If you are a U.S. citizen, either by birth or through naturalization, then you are protected by the fourth amendment against unreasonable search and seizures without probable cause. You also have equal protection granted by the 14th amendment, which also prohibits racial profiling (which means looking like an illegal immigrant isn't probable cause). Not to mention the foundation of our legal system that you are innocent until proven guilty. The state needs to prove any case against a citizen, not the other way around. If you are a citizen, you have rights.

I believe there are better ways of managing the illegal immigration issue which does not involve the Nazi practice of stopping people on the street and asking for their "papers". This sets such a scary precedent and I am shocked that people are so motivated by fear and anger that they are willing to give up their rights. But here is the rub, the people who support this really aren't giving up their rights, they are giving up the rights of anyone who looks like they are of Latino decent. I have yet to see a single non-white person who supports this law. That is because if you are white, you do not know what it is like for you or your family or friends to be stopped by the police on a regular basis simply because of the color of your skin. If you have never had to live with this, then it sounds so benign, just stop for the cops and show them your papers. But I would like you to imagine for one moment that you are on your way to the supermarket, preparing for a large dinner party at your house and you are pulled over by the police and detained for 30 minutes while they check your papers. This happens again on your way home, your dinner party ruined. The next day you are running late for work and are stopped again and asked for your papers. You get in trouble for being extra late for work. You run out to grab lunch and are asked for your papers. Again after work on your way to the gym. Again on your way home. At night you sit on your porch, trying to enjoy a nice evening and two cops come by and ask for your papers..."and while your at it, everyone else in the house show your papers". This may seem excessive but this is the Pandora’s Box that has been opened with this law. Doesn't sound so benign now does it? What if you're not here illegally but you are a naturalized citizen or like me, a second generation born American, is this fair?

There has to be better ways of identifying illegal immigrants other than racial profiling and requiring citizens to constantly carry proof of citizenship. Do you always carry your birth certificate of other important papers with you at all times? Why can't the department of labor do more checks at workplaces to ensure that all employees are legal citizens? Surely if you are here illegally, you have to work somewhere. Isn't the loss of jobs a key issue in the immigration debate? You know why this won't happen? Because it is whites who typically own the farms and construction companies that rely on cheap illegal labor so that you can get your apples on sale for $1 a pound and you can get that new bathroom installed in your house cheaper and keep your lawn perfectly landscaped at all times. That's the dirty little secret about illegal immigration - you want them out, but you're not willing to pay the price. What would your grocery bill look like if every item of food was picked, prepared and packaged by workers being paid the legal minimum wage?

But I digress. Throughout American history we have been a nation of hypocrites. We have been built by the hard work of immigrants that we didn't want here. And each generation does to the new wave of immigrants exactly what the previous generations did to their immigrant grandparents and so the cycle goes on and on and on. Being a native Brooklyn girl, I have seen every neighborhood I knew growing up change its demographic. Many of my friends are sad about this, some are downright angry. I feel a twinge of sadness myself, more nostalgia than anything else, but I also take it in stride. My parents and grandparents pushed out one ethnicity, just as they were pushed out by another. And all those Russian and Chinese, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Iranian and Turkish children growing up with immigrant parents and going to the same school as my children - those kids will be the nurses and doctors, politicians, construction workers, police officers and such that will care for my children and grandchildren in the years to come. They will move to the suburbs, buy new cars and open chain restaurants. They will probably also grow up to call the next wave of immigrants "dirty so-and-sos". The cycle will sadly continue. He who doesn't learn from history is doomed to repeat it.

So chew on this: We were not just built on the backs of immigrants, we continue to grow on the backs of immigrants and just imagine what this country would be like if, just for one generation, we actually embraced that and were friendly to our immigrant population?