Posted on 04/26/2010 11:05:19 AM PDT by Bokababe
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Arizona Governor Jan Brewer last week signed a new law into effect that authorizes local police to stop and verify the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 60% of voters nationwide favor such a law, while 31% are opposed.
Seventy-seven percent (77%) of Republicans support the law along with 62% of voters not affiliated with either major party. Democratic voters are evenly divided on the measure.
At the same time, however, 58% of all voters are at least somewhat concerned that “efforts to identify and deport illegal immigrants will also end up violating the civil rights of some U.S. citizens.” That figure includes 29% who are Very Concerned about possible civil rights violations.....
(Excerpt) Read more at rasmussenreports.com ...
Ahem...
The construction business that my wife and I built through our own blood, sweat, and tears was virtually destroyed by unfair competition from other contractors who used illegal alien labor.
I once kept six to eight (American) professional tradesmen employed full-time, but those days are long gone. Nowadays, I'm lucky if I can get enough work for myself to pay half of our bills.
My wife and I eventually lost nearly every physical possession we owned because our business crashed. We lost our whole lifestyle because our business was killed by illegals.
You want to talk about the costs of construction? The wages for tradesmen in construction have been badly depressed by illegal alien labor for 20 years or more, now. It's gotten so bad, that you can't find young Americans who are even willing to learn the trades any longer, because they don't pay for squat any more.
If there's one aspect of the illegal alien problem that gets my blood boiling, that's it.
“Is that really what people want?”
Your drivers license, unless it is issued by a state that doesn’t check your BC, is proof of residency status.
And cops routinely do check the ID of passengers. The first thing a cop will do is ask for your “papers”.
A gaudily painted lowrider, neon running lights and bass that registers 2.0 on the Richter scale?
Ski masks? Terrifying!
As with any law and any right, misuse is likely to occur; it’s a risk we take.
I honestly think people-mostly the opposition-are going off hysterically on this issue without a concrete reason.
I said earlier on another thread that I don’t think racial profiling is possible with this law-maybe language profiling if someone doesn’t speak English. A counterfeit drivers’ license and other documents are always available for a price, but I don’t think anyone has learned to counterfeit the speaking of basic English.
Hispanics are an ethnic group including several races and all colors, not a race, so I don’t know how one can “look Hispanic”. For example, I am Hispanic, have red hair and medium olive skin-my neighbor who is of British ancestry is black haired and several shades darker than I am-and my cousin’s husband is Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Black.
There is always a creepy feeling associated with showing ID-at least there is to me, even though my brother works in law enforcement-but we already carry proof of insurance, a drivers’ license, vehicle registration, etc around. And you can’t even write a check or use a credit card some places without showing a drivers’ license.
“Do you have a conceal carry license?”
I don’t know what state your from, but I have been stopped and the first question is; Are you carrying? It’s all on the computer from your license number before they approach your car.
It sounds like you are a pushover for exchanging liberty for security. We are all already suspect terrorists in the airports lets not all become suspect illegals on the road OK?
in the words of the “Patriot” movie
we have traded on tyrant 3000 miles away
for
3000 tyrants one mile away.
The chances of this state law being shot down by the courts are slim to none, and Slim just left town. To wit:
Federal Immigration and Nationality Act Section 8 USC 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv)(b)(iii)
"State and local law enforcement officials have the general power to investigate and arrest violators of federal immigration statutes without prior INS knowledge or approval, as long as they are authorized to do so by state law."
“The answer is to enforce the existing immigration laws on the books.”
You need to read the federal law that is already on the books... The AZ law just copies it for the most part.
“A gaudily painted lowrider”
LMAO! In San Antonio, there are areas where that vehicle would be common among American born Hispanics-but outside of those neighborhoods, definitely a reason for suspicion.
Why should immigration be the one federal law that the police are not allowed to enforce?
A few years ago I was stopped at an interior border crossing check station on a Tx highway coming back from South Padre. I was asked whether I was a citizen and asked to show my license, etc. and I never even left the country! Furthermore, while I did have a slight tan, I don’t look remotely hispanic. I am curious how I would have actually proved I was a citizen without my birth certificate if I was pressed on the point. Luckily he just took my word for it at the time. Yours is a good question, but my assumption would be that most illegals will have no driver’s license or identification at all (other than something from their country of origin).
“LOL. no, that’s cheap lettuce.”
Still waiting for those $50/hour picking jobs!
Exactly.
But don’t blame the illegals for your loss. It was your fellow Americans who stabbed you in the back.
It was the other contractors who hired the illegals who ruined your business.
It was your customers who went with the cheapest contractors who ruined your business.
Don’t blame the illegals, because if you were given the option to make 10 cents a day, or 10 dollars an hour, what would you do?
I took the Breathalyzer at the station .... and passed. This is after they towed my car. They then politely and very discreetly turned off the camera and informed me that they would beat me to a pulp at that moment, or in the future, should I complain. I complied. I still have all my teeth and a straight nose. It was a bargain.
SEIU wants your membership dues!
VIDEO: SEIU Official Says Reforming Immigration Could Add 8 Million Democratic Votes
“We will be creating a governing coalition for the long term, not just for an election cycle.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK7K0itgQt0
At the America’s Future Now! conference in Washington, DC on June 2, 2009, SEIU International Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina addressed attendees on why comprehensive immigration reform is an important issue for the progressive community to support, and how progressives can forge common ground on an immigration reform strategy.
You're purposely ignoring the elephant in the living room. You have to be willing to confront what must be done to identify and deport illegals, most of whom are citizens of Mexico, and can most often be identified by their inability to speak English, and their lack of common forms of I.D.
The law includes the phrase "reasonable suspicion". Just having the appearance of a Mexican doesn't rise to the level of reasonable suspicion because there are millions of American citizens who fit that description.
But, if you've been as observant as most Americans have been in the last few decades, you are well aware of the many small indicators that are common to non-resident, illegal aliens from Mexico. These are the same identifying characteristics that law enforcement personnel will be using to establish "reasonable suspicion".
In a word, it's profiling, and it's exactly what law enforcement personnel should be doing to sort the illegals from those who are legal.
If you don't want to allow law enforcement personnel to enforce our immigration laws by determining a person's immigration or citizenship status by using profiling, then we're back to square one.
Short of the federal government actually doing their job and building an impenetrable barrier along our southern border (which they refuse to do), there's little else we can do to stop this scourge.
What's your solution to the status quo?
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