Thread: Dothan (AL) Eagle Editorial: Show us your papers

Editorial: Show us your papers
By Dothan Eagle editorial
Published: April 07, 2011

This week, the Alabama House of Representatives approved an immigration bill modeled after a controversial Arizona law that allows police to arrest anyone who cannot prove they are in the United States legally.

It’s now up to the Alabama Senate to kill the unreasonable measure.

Passage of the measure fulfills a pledge to address illegal immigration, an issue that helped drive an influx of new Republicans elected to the state House. While it imposes harsh penalties on employers who knowingly hire workers who are in the country illegally, the expanded powers it gives law enforcement is troubling.

Here’s a test: Check your wallet to see what sort of identification you have. Drivers’ license? Insurance card? Credit or debit cards? Those documents won’t prove you are in the United States legally; under the proposal the House approved, you could be thrown in jail for that lack of paperwork at any given time.

That’s not America. That’s some Orwellian nightmare.

Of course, what’s not being said is that such a scenario is unlikely to unfold, unless the people on the receiving end of the interrogation look Hispanic or speak little or no English. Proponents of the bill dismiss objections that the measure would encourage profiling, but that’s exactly the position the Legislature would force on law enforcement officers unless it requires that every person encountered by police be required to prove they’re in the country legally.

That’s not freedom. That’s something out of a bad Cold War-era spy film.

Arizona’s controversial law, touted as the nation’s toughest bill on illegal immigration when it was enacted last spring, was denounced widely — most notably by President Barack Obama, who said it would “undermine the basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans.â€

Liberal OBLs are everywhere.

What utter nonsense! If you are pulled over and you can't produce a valid US (except for those states who issue licenses to illegal aliens), then it's pretty much a no-brainer. DOH!

Ever hear of a green card? Passport? Every foreigner must carry theirs, per federal laws. I know I did, before I became a citizen. So what's the big deal? Either you have proper ID or you are here illegally and must be deported.