Arizona's governor shoots her state's cops in the foot to win votes for her re-election

[thatcrazycajun]

Congratulations, Gov. Janice Brewer (R) of Arizona! In getting your state house to pass and signing legislation authorizing law enforcement in the Grand Canyon State to interrogate immigrants as to their legal status even when they've committed no other crimes, you've just insured that nobody who looks or sounds like anything but a Caucasian will ever again give your state's police and state troopers the time of day, much less any help whatsoever in nabbing real criminals...at least until this law gets overturned in court, which it is almost certain to be, and PDQ.

Yes, I know Arizona has superseded Texas as the chief entry point for illegal immigration and drug smuggling. Yes, I know you're up for re-election this fall and need to goose support from your party's notoriously immigrant-loathing base. And yes, I know a rancher was killed on your state's border with Mexico recently, most likely by drug-cartel soldiers. But this new law is exactly the wrong response. I promise you, it will not enhance the safety of Arizonans; in fact, it will have precisely the opposite effect—it will make them less safe. It will also send a message to any non-Caucasians thinking of coming to live and work in your state that they probably shouldn't...and to those already there, legal or not, that they are emphatically not welcome...even though they are likely the majority of the state's population by now.

Some local cops are quoted as saying they're glad you got this law passed. Let's see how glad they are in the weeks and months to come, when they can no longer get any cooperation whatso-damned-ever from their Hispanic, Asian and other immigrant communities in catching people who do things much worse than sneak across our border looking for work. And if you honestly think you can keep this law from being turned far and wide into an excuse to racially profile anyone who your cops think looks suspicious—or simply not "American" enough, i.e., white—you're an even bigger idiot than ginning up this law in the first place makes you appear to be. This asinine law guarantees that the first and only thing any non-white, lower-income person in Arizona will do from now on when approached by anyone with a badge is run like hell. It also usurps authority the Constitution assigns explicitly to the federal government and its agents, leaving it wide open for court challenges being filed even as we speak.

To the more sensible citizens of our 48th state (and I know there must be some, or John McCain wouldn't be in office) I would say: if you really want to be safer—and avoid or at least shorten a boycott of your convention facilities, hotels and tourist spots by individuals and groups rightly appalled at the naked bigotry and right-wing demagoguery back of this law—get it repealed. Right frakking NOW. Over Madame Governor's veto if necessary, as it surely will be. And then vote this shamelessly pandering GOP fembot out of office on November 2nd.

Comments

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Two things you didn't touch on:

1. One of the strongest arguments that this law is unconstitutional is that it is a state attempting to regulate immigration, a power specifically reserved to the federal government in the Constitution. Not that the right wing who support this law is likely to know that; "unconstitutional" is a holy word for them, of the sort that bears no inspection or understanding beyond "we don't like it."

2. See this post at Balloon Juice, in which the poster notes that the law also makes it possible for Minutemen patrol sorts to force municipalities into focusing their police forces on enforcing this horse manure, at a potentially staggering cost.

I look forward to the expose of racist bullshit behind this law, and, with any luck, the expulsion of the governor. (Unfortunately, I doubt anything short of a federal task force can remove Sheriff Arpaio, but where there's breath, there's hope.)

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Actually I did touch on point #1; see the end of my third paragraph. But you got me on point #2; thanks for the add.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Yep. Missed it. I shouldn't try reading or writing anything until at least noon on the weekends; wakefulness is a good thing.

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

IMHO, while this law may not be the smartest thing, there is a point to be made. People are coming here illegally. The federal government is doing nothing to stop it. It's affecting our country.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

"The federal government is doing nothing to stop it?" You saying that the 20,000 agents of the Border Patrol put in 18-hour days or worse each week doing nothing? You mean those fences, aerial searchers and highway-gate inspectors, not to mention the ICE folks in our airports and seaports, are all loafing the whole day long? You mean all that money we've been spending trying to develop a "virtual fence" was a load of crap? I can think of a whole lotta hard-working federal employees you'd piss off mightily with that assertion. (And I'd say that even if I didn't personally know a couple dozen, or weren't engaged to one.)

It may be legitimate to question their methodology, but it is blatantly unfair to claim the government is "doing nothing." Certainly local and state law enforcement should cooperate with the feds in controlling immigration, but this measure goes too far in an unconstitutional direction.

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

I think the problem is, none of it's working. We have people coming through the fence, avoiding the inspectors and border people, and still getting through to the US. That tells me something isn't working.

The point is this, and maybe I said it wrong (and I'm willing to admit to that): even with all this, there are still thousands upon thousands of illegal immigrants getting through. Something's not working.

I sympathize, but --

[osewalrus.livejournal.com]

Well, it's complicated.

Yes, you have a lot of angry people who think the government doesn't care/isn't doing enough.

However, it is not exactly a simple or easy job to do, and folks trying to get in adapt to new strategies.

And there are a lot of different constituencies that get unhappy about various things. Some people don't like going after the employers who use illegal aliens (which is getting at the root of the "they take our jobs" problem). Some people get upset at the cost of stepped up federal efforts, especially since it means either raising taxes or diverting spending from other areas. Some people get upset about the break up of families when you have one or both parents in the country illegally but the kids are born on American soil and therefore are American citizens and can't be deported.

It is easy to send a message of frustration, and voters do -- with increasing consistency. Figuring out solutions -- especially when results are likely to take awhile and don't come cheaply -- is harder.

In many ways, it's like the "war on drugs" or any other effort to address a complex social problem.

Re: I sympathize, but --

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

Thanks, oh walrus of ose. You said it a lot better than I ever could.

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

Well, no, the problem isn't that none of it is working. The problem is (as Harold greatly elaborates on) that we don't agree on what the problem is.

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

I'd agree with you on that.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's affecting our country. It's providing workers for jobs that legal Americans disdain to do because they pay terribly and are dirty, dangerous, or both. It's providing people who pay their taxes, and whose behavior is generally far more within the law (aside from their actual entry to the States), because the consequences of violating it are greater.

Yes, we need to reform immigration law and practice. But the "papers or jail" approach of the Arizona atrocity is both too subject to abuse and too reminiscent of despicable police states for any reasonable person to support.

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

Just as a side note:

Harry Reid is from Nevada. Arizona's other senator is Minority Whip John Kyl.

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

And with the Latino vote in Nevada, Reid is talking about discussing immigration before financial regulation. Not a major problem, considering that Graham has suddenly developed a dragging foot.

Another issue is that Section 6 of the bill allows arrest without a warrant for any deportable offense. I question the constitutionality of that provision.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Should have quit while I was behind. Thanks for correcting me.

[smoooom.livejournal.com]

I keep on hearing about this new law in Arizona, but I hadn't heard any details. Now I have. I wish I hadn't. That's incredible.

[janeg.livejournal.com]

I've seen some reports that say this new law is great - it ensures there won't be another Republican elected in Arizona for decades. Have they forgotten there are lots of people who might look like immigrants, are there legally, and will vote? I would so love to see Arizona go Democrat. I'm quite involved with a community organization in Tucson and would really prefer to visit a state governed by respectful, inclusive people. Voting out the current bozos might make that possible.

[msminlr.livejournal.com]

Diane Rehm's show was discussing this today, and one of the callers-in reported that her Bolivian-born, naturalized-citizen Mom [who still speaks with a heavy Spanish accent] had decided against taking her grandkids on a road trip to the Grand Canyon this summer because of this legislation.

I think the lady should write the Tourism Board of whatever state she DOES visit, explaining exactly why she chose them over Arizona, with a copy to the Arizona Tourism board.

I wonder what Leslie is going to have to say on the subject [WEG]