Their first argument was that why shouldn't everyone have to carry ID? They only need their driver's license to prove their citizens, right? Wrong, the laws do not specify what constitutes proof of citizenship, only that if asked by law enforcement, you must have documentation to prove you are legally in this country. A driver's license does not usually qualify as proof of citizenship.
So then I asked if they routinely carried their birth certificates around and were willing to present them several times a day to anyone in law enforcement who asked for them. Of course, they are too white to have to worry about that, but I did want them to see the irony of this scenario as compared to the laws of communist countries where you used to have to produce your papers on demand.
After this part of the conversation there came this, "Well, they must have a good reason to take this drastic of a step. It must be really bad in Arizona." And I thought, I wonder just how bad it is in Arizona that they felt they needed to trample the constitution in order to stem the tide of criminal activity against bona fide American citizens.
I went HERE to get some information. The link will take you to Arizona Public Safety Dept crime reports for the last several years and here is what I found out.
Using the crime comparison index, with the exception of larceny and rape, crimes as a whole were down in 2009 from 2008.
Bias/hate offenses statistics was interesting; Assaults, intimidation, damage/vandalism were up across the board. The greatest number of bias crime targets were blacks, Hispanics, Jews and homosexuals.
Surprise, surprise...
Looking at drug offenses, specifically committed by Hispanics, there was, overall a 5% increase or about 500 more cases over the course of 2009. These stats include drug sales and drug use.
When you compare statistics of 2005 to 2009 you find that bias crimes against Hispanics and Jews are up, nearly doubled in 2009. Drug offenses by Hispanics overall is down in 2009 by at least 2,000 arrests. Both violent crime and property crimes are down in 2009 from 2005.
With these numbers in mind, what DID prompt the Draconian measures enacted by the Arizona governor and legislature? The argument that they had to "do something" about illegals in order to fight crime sure doesn't stand up in light of Arizon's own numbers.
Not just enlightening, your stats remove the one rationale used by anti-immigration extremists and exposes them for what they are: Bigots, pure and simple! A great find, Rocky.
ReplyDeleteWell it's interesting to know they hate me as much as they hate Hispanics but only two thirds as much as they hate blacks (who can be Hispanics too.)
ReplyDeleteBut why this? Why now? I think it's from the same kind of fear that prompts people to fundamentalism and religious extremism -- fear that they're losing.
Some good may come of this because it takes spectacular abuse to wake Americans up to the fact that the only threat to our precious "freedom" is us.
There must be a reason? I've heard that all my life about the Nazis - must be a reason they hate Jews, right?
Isn't a shame how human evolution stalled just at the point where we were starting to be intelligent?
As I was researching this post I came across a quote from an Arizona representative regarding the exodus of immigrants from Arizona who can no longer get day labor work because employers are afraid to pick them up.
ReplyDeleteThe rep said that he hoped the loss of immigrants would increase the number of jobs of other Arizona residents. As if back breaking, underpaid, benefitless jobs were going to turn Arizona's unemployment around.
And I too did not miss the ironic similarity between Arizona blaming the illegals for all their economic problems and Hitler doing the same with the Jews. We know how that turned out; doesn't bode well for anyone with brown skin in Arizona does it?
I hope it doesn't. I hope all kinds of good citizens are harassed and abused enough that they have to repeal this unconstitutional nonsense.
ReplyDeleteI've had thoughts of posing as an illegal ( my tan is in good shape after a week fishing) just to see what they do. It would be better if we got some public spirited lawyers to try it because that's the kind of thing it takes.
I just can't get over the idiocy of Floridians, one of whom is now campaigning for governor on the basis that his opponent things the Arizona law is bad news for all of us. It is.
Interesting review of the statistics, which clearly show that the AZ law has nothing to do with illegal alien criminals. I'm convinced that this is another attempt to disenfranchise American citizens (like when they stole the presidency in 2000). The Repubs want to challenge Hispanics at the polls in 2012.
ReplyDeleteRead about it here:
Behind the Arizona Immigration Law: GOP Game to Swipe the November Election.
The author concludes... "What moved GOP Governor Jan Brewer to sign the Soviet-style show-me-your-papers law is the exploding number of legal Hispanics, US citizens all, who are daring to vote -- and daring to vote Democratic by more than two-to-one".
Republicans cry voter fraud, all the while committing election fraud. President Obama should have left Napolitano as governor of AZ instead of promoting her to head of Homeland Security. The Repubs are taking FULL advantage of that mistake.
Rocky, thank you for the statistics; I suspected as much but it makes debating the lunancy of Arizona's law easier with hard data to back up the fallacies of why this law is needed.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the view that Arizona's law is motivated out of fear. I think that it's the same fear that fuels the Tea Party. It's a fear of change; when tea partiers say that they want their country back, what they mean is that they want to return to the world where they both make and understand the rules.
I hope that y'all at least were having the family discussion over iced tea; I find that it makes dealing with family members a bit more civilized to have a glass of tea. Your family reminds me of some members of my own.
Rocky: This is excellent. I don't think there's any doubt that a((fair)) Immigration Reform law should be written - but this one in AZ is anything but fair or consitutional. It is easy to hear the sound of and visualize the trucks rounding up illegals in whole neighborhoods. Breaking down doors of home owners suspected of hiding them. Yanking them up off the street. Making them wear armbands with a big yellow "I.A." on them. Building large fenced in camps along the great wall.
ReplyDeleteAnd then you have Slippery McCain saying the law to export illegals is needed but companies which hire them should not be punished!
These people aren't just motivated by fear - they're motivated by greed. To hell with how it impacts on the lives of those they consider to be less than human.
I have no doubt that those backing this bill will be the first to regret it. Where else are they going to get such cheap labor?