Arizona gets tough on ILLEGAL immigrants

[Neil Heath]

It seems that folks here are saying there's nothing wrong with profiling, as though I was attacking that practice, but I haven't taken a position on that subject. I should have made clear that the Gov. of AZ has said that she is absolutely against profiling and will not tolerate it in the enforcement of this law. I heard her say it when she signed the bill. I guess I assumed people knew that.

I'm simply asking how do they intend to do that?

[Ed Pettibone]

[Sandy]

[Sandy]

I happen to be a native Arizonan who grew up in Cochise County in the southeastern corner of the state, which is one of the areas that is hot in terms of illegal crossings. There are two border crossings in the county, one in the small town of Naco, which straddles the border, the other between Douglas, Arizona and Agua Prieta, Sonora, which is the busiest of the two. The fence that extends along the border is chain link, buried into the ground, and about 12 feet high with barbed wire across the top. But that's not where the illegal crossings occur. They happen in remote areas of the desert, miles away from the border crossings, in places where the fence is nothing but a few strands of barbed wire, and where a handful of border patrol have to cover hundreds of square miles of territory.

I lived in a subdivision south of a small town 40 miles north of the border, and during most of my childhood and teenage years, the sight of illegals, groups of three or four mostly men walking up the alley behind our house was a common, daily occurrence. My sister, who still lives in the same neighborhood, tells me that the same thing still happens, except that the numbers have increased dramatically, and so has the crime. Such activity is probably more dangerous for those here illegally, since the climate in the desert, especially in the summertime, is not conducive to long hikes, and they are subject to both abuse and exploitation.

The easiest way to enforce existing immigration law would be to prosecute, with stiff financial penalties, the businesses who knowingly hire those who are here illegally. Yeah, in Southern Arizona there are some ranchers and farmers who hire illegals here and there, and always have done so, but the real problem is in the larger businesses who see this as a source of cheap labor which leads to bigger profits. Remove the profit incentive with a fine that is larger than the financial benefit of cheap labor, and the stream of illegals from Mexico would return to being just a trickle across the border. From a political standpoint, for the federal government, it will require a reversal of Bush administration policy which winked at the problem and essentially gave a green light to their corporate supporters, and then gutted the Border Patrol's budget to give tax breaks to the wealthy.

[Jonathan]

[Jonathan]

[Chris]

[Ed Pettibone]

[Stephen Fox]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carol-m-s ... 14533.html

And read the Jonathan Tilove piece of 2002 in this list.

http://www.carolmswain.net/press.html

[Jonathan]

[Chris]

Here's evidence that LEGAL Mexican immigrants see the need for the new Arizona law.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/30/arizon ... tml?hpt=C1

Arizona legislators are just trying to enforce a federal law that the Federals won't enforce. Arizona has "stepped up to the plate!" "If you won't enforce your own law, we will."

[Chris]

There is a rally in my city this afternoon.

http://hamptonroads.com/2010/05/immigra ... s?cid=ltst

It appears the organizers support rights for illegal immigrants. Based on the comments following this article, it appears a majority of the folks around here would rather attend a counter rally (as I would). I think I should stay away from this because of the potential for violence. It comes at the time I usually study my Sunday School lesson. See how God keeps me out of trouble!

[ET]

[Dave Roberts]

Our govt also won't stop the continuing use and distribution of illegal drugs. We are afraid we will get too many politicians' and their major contibutors children (or themselves) if we clamp down on the use of illegal drugs. That fuels the kind of problems which get law enforcement killed. There are two different kinds of immigrants--those who come to hang drywall or clean hotel rooms and those who are couriers for the drug lords south of the border. Let's distinguish the two--they are not the same kinds of people.

[Neil Heath]

[Jonathan]

[Chris]

[Jonathan]

[Stephen Fox]

http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=15997

[Stephen Fox]

http://www.religiondispatches.org/archi ... 9339#c9339

All there in the penumbra of the link above

[Jonathan]

[Dave Roberts]

Someone needs to challenge us when we are "at ease in Zion." Miguel definitely fills that role. Strangely sounds like bits of Amos at times. Maybe he read "too many prophets" in his study of the scriptures.

[Chris]

I feared I was in the minority on this. Apparently not.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162- ... esAreaMain

[Stephen Fox]

http://www.religiondispatches.org/archi ... oalitions/

As much as Jthan liked De La Torre, Selma should give him a stoke as well.

I made my statement at RD.org, left it at the foot of Bishop Willimon, Duke, Bham Sthrn and the UMC and the SAmford Proff who wrote Blessed are the Peacemakers about the 8 White Pastors to whom King sent the letter from the Bham Jail.

I think he is a Jonathan, Bass it is.

Have a copy right here

Preachers were:

http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=8649

So how Does Willimon and the CBF compare to Earl Stallings and company on this one.

What about Bob Terry and Joe Godfrey?

I'm not sure I have the answer. I know there was an opportunity at one time to address the question in Collinsville,but that moment mighta passed. And or it may be inflected by Paul Cuados' A Home on the Field.

I doubt it was addressed adequately at my friend Mary Anne Cole's Tea Party in Ft. Payne Saturday May 1

[Stephen Fox]

http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=16018