New immigration bill in Arizona begs disorder, distrust among state citizens

Well, John McCain just lost the Hispanic vote. Whether he cares or not is another question. “They don’t vote anyway, John,” a top aide reassures him with a pat on the back, but he must have realized it at some point between now and when he endorsed the new Arizona immigration bill on Monday. He’s had a couple days for that fact to soak through his bald white head, just like the hot Arizona sun does twice a day when he ventures outside to make the shuffle between the office and his car.

Arizona, for the past few years, has been the choice point of entry for illegal immigrants—there are an estimated 460,000 in the state at any given time, and this places obvious, unfair burdens on their economy. They have been calling on Washington for federal immigration reform for a while, to no avail. However, the new immigration bill, which requires police officers to check immigration status and citizenship of anyone they “reasonably suspect” of being an undocumented immigrant, will be about as effective as fixing a leaky dam with a pack of coffee filters. 

It also brings up obvious racial issues; Governor Jan Brewer has signed the bill into law, but claims she doesn’t know exactly what an illegal immigrant looks like. She plainly said so at a press conference about the bill, and stated that others might know, or maybe not: “I can tell you that I think that there are people in Arizona that assume they know what an illegal immigrant looks like. I don’t know if they know that for a fact or not.”

Apparently someone knows; she has ordered Arizona police to be trained in the warning signs of illegal immigrants. There is obviously a damn good reason why no Arizona official has detailed these. Let’s just be honest here, because they can’t: Hispanic and poor would no doubt be characteristics on the list, and I doubt anybody constructing the guidelines would embellish the language to make these qualities easier on the ears. The targets are Mexicans. Is this racial profiling? Yes, although it is grounded in fact; the illegal immigrant problem in Arizona is overwhelmingly due to Mexico. 

It is unfortunate that Hispanic Americans are caught in the crossfire, but it would be silly to not take into account the fact that illegal immigrants from Mexico will probably be Mexican. 

This being said, Arizona really shot itself in the foot with this one. Americans are not used to being asked for their papers, and the sting of humiliation caused by procuring proof of citizenship while caucasian after caucasian flies by on the interstate will no doubt be sufficient to flood Arizona courts with lawsuits. Not only will Arizona be sued by masses of outraged Hispanics who feel the law is too harsh, but also indignant whites who feel it is being carried out too modestly: the law contains a provision that allows citizens to sue any agency or official who hinders the enforcement of federal immigration laws. 

In addition to the lawsuits, the new bill will no doubt have a large polarizing effect between Hispanic communities and other Arizonans, both politically and culturally. If it was hard before the bill to get Hispanic communities to cooperate with the law to help solve murders and crimes, it is now impossible. If you are an undocumented immigrant, or are affiliated with anyone that is, there now ceases to be any good reason to talk to law enforcement about anything at all, ever.

Although they undoubtedly exist, not every police officer in Arizona is a begrudged and racist middle-aged white who takes out his marriage problems on Hispanics on his stretch of the highway. The bill is great for that guy but bad for the moderate cop who cares about more about violent criminals than illegal immigrants. This cop is faced with an ethical dilemma every time he runs into a Hispanic person: either carry out a law you might not agree with or risk being sued and subsequently fired. 

What went wrong here? Is the immigration problem in Arizona so bad that there is not enough time to construct a better solution before the state collapses in on itself? Where are all these people going to go? They cannot be simply deported: only the Federal Government, not Arizona, has the authority to do so. It makes me sad that nonviolent illegal immigrants will be in the hands of people like Joe Arpaio, whose methods of battling illegal immigration have received renowned criticism as being excessive and unethical. At his infamous jail camp, for example, there is no air conditioning, as it is outside, and the prisoners wear pink. (Group tours of the internationally famous Tents Jail can be scheduled in advance by calling 602-876-5551, according to the website.)

All of this brings to the lips the tired phrase that one must put a fire out at its base. Arizona’s tough immigration bill will diffuse illegal immigrants to New Mexico and California and do nothing to ebb the flow of immigrants into the country: word of the tough laws might make it back to Mexico, but who cares? To many, living in a police state is still better than living in Mexico.

Russel Pearce’s bill is one that is both shabby and unstable. It has the potential to suck millions of dollars from Arizona’s government, escalate tensions that were already high between Hispanics and Whites, and make it more difficult for both legal and illegal immigrants to integrate on any level into American society. The coming storm of Supreme Court cases is inevitable and will probably be of sufficient strength to cause the bill to eventually be reworked or scrapped altogether. Arizona is facing a real problem with immigration and is absolutely right to demand reform from Washington. However, taking things into their own hands in this measure is ill fated. A for effort, Russ, but let the big boys handle this one.