2010-05-04
COLUMN: A Woman's World

By Izzy Lyman

Thank you, Arizona



Who knew that Jan Brewer, whose kingdom includes a vast desert, is a steel magnolia?

With the stroke of a pen, the Arizona Republican governor managed to, as one of her detractors put it, "awaken a sleeping giant."

For signing SB 1070 into law, little kids now whack a piata of her; a candlelight vigil was held outside her home with protestors singing "This land is your land;" and one May 1st marcher brandished a large sign with her photo, describing her as "ugly" and "old."

Welcome to the Big Time, Gov. Brewer. Proceed at your own risk.

Some suspect that the recent death of Cochise County rancher Rob Krentz, murdered by a suspected illegal, pushed her to sign.

Krentz's cruel fate was the last straw in a long line of last straws where shoot-outs, kidnappings, and home invasions remain the activities du jour of the dangerous interlopers who illicitly squat in the Grand Canyon State.

By all accounts, Krentz was a peaceful man, known for providing cold water to thirsty trespassers that trod through his vast southern Arizona property.

Cantankerous critics to the contrary, Arizona's Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act is a tool aimed at improving public safety.

While requiring immigrants to carry appropriate documentation, the new law forbids racial profiling. It does mandate that local officers question individuals they believe are in the United States illegally. (In the lingo of law enforcement: reasonable suspicion building up to probable cause.)

For instance, if a Phoenix policeman pulls over a female motorist for driving like Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at Talladega, and requests the obligatory driver's license, and is handed only a Mexican national identity card -- bingo. Mr. Cop may have to obtain further information about Ms. Speedy Gonzalez's immigration status from the appropriate federal agency.

This is not racist. This is sane policy for an insane time, and many activists couldn't be more pleased.

Paul Nachman of MontanaMILE.org, a grassroots organization that supports immigration law enforcement, had this to say about the Arizona legislation:

"How this all shakes out is pertinent to Montana, too.Illegal immigration isn't highly visible here, but a Gallatin County Sheriff's deputy who works in the jail told me that they process illegal aliens through the jail almost every day,[although] the flow is lower now that the construction jobs up in Big Sky have largely evaporated."

Fred Elbel, spokesperson for the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform, adds, "The new law simply allows Arizona authorities as well as federal authorities to question the immigration status of anyone legally detained. A similar law should be passed in every state."

In Georgia, a non-border state that has had serious problems with transnational gangs, D.A. King, founder of the Dustin Inman Society (named in honor of a Peach State teenager who was killed in a vehicular accident by an illegal alien), observed, "Judging from the howls of opposition coming from the usual suspects in the open borders, anti-enforcement coalition, it will be very effective if enforced. I applaud the Arizona legislature, and the law's brave author, State Sen. Russell Pearce."

Ah, yes. Russell Pearce. Darth Vader himself. One blogger -- Stephen Lemons -- had unwelcome words for tourists: "I'd also advise them not to drink the water, particularly after Pearce has taken a sip. Bigotry can be contagious."

Unfortunately, such mean-spirited comments will continue to be an unsightly part of this terrain known as the "immigration debate."

But what good does all the huffing and puffing do for the parents of Dustin Inman? Or, the wife and children of Rob Krentz? Or any number of innocent Americans who have lost a loved one at the hands of an illegal alien?

Anyway, actions still speak louder than words.

Thank you, Jan Brewer. Thank you, Russell Pearce. Thank you, Arizona.

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