There has been a firestorm of reaction to the efforts of Russell Pearce and the Arizona Senate regarding the introduction, maneuvering through the legislature, and the passage of Arizona SB1070[1]. The immigration enforcement bill Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law 23 April 2010. Although the new mandate does not go into effect for 90 days, it has already been characterized by the liberal media machine, and just about every emotion driven, irrational mouthpiece with a keyboard or microphone as anti-immigrant, anti-civil rights and unconstitutional. As with most efforts to regain some semblance of sanity and common sense in the American body politic these days, the opponents to the measure have based their opposition mainly on emotion and imagined consequence. Truth and rational thought have been almost completely absent from the dialogue.

On the day the bill was signed, just hours later, one of the most influential reporters in Washington, E.J. Dionne, had formulated and published an opinion piece[2] in the Washington Post decrying the new Arizona law as making it, quote, dangerous just to look Hispanic unquote. Dionne went on to rehash snippets he garnered from an editorial [3]published in the Arizona Republic the previous day. Unfortunately, for Mr. Dionne and for those of us living with the realities of massive disregard for the sovereignty of the United States as a whole and that of Arizona specifically, the editorial he cannibalized and regurgitated onto the world famous pages of the Washington Post had very little truth in it.

A few of the misrepresentations:

The new law makes it a CRIME to be in the country ILLEGALLY.

Actually, it is already a CRIME, hence the term ILLEGAL ALIEN.

What the new Arizona law actually does is make it a crime in Arizona to be in the United States ILLEGALLY. By what means was that accomplished? The Arizona legislature simply copied the language contained in the Federal Statute and placed it within the Arizona statute.

The new statute saddles Law enforcement personnel with the task of demanding documentation establishing one’s right to be in the country if there is reasonable suspicion a person lacks that documentation.

Actually, the mandate requires authorities request such documentation as a drivers license, state issued identification, passport, etc, only if it is feasible and specifically if such a demand would not hinder or obstruct an investigation. The essence of the provision is that it prohibits cities or police departments from adopting policies prohibiting officers from checking immigration status.

Arizona’s Latino population will now be required to carry ‘za-papers’ at all times.

Actually, Federal law already requires resident aliens to carry immigration documentation. The new Arizona law again simply makes it a crime in Arizona to be in violation of an already existing Federal law. It also specifically does not apply, quote to those born and raised in The Grand Canyon State unquote, as they are obviously American citizens.

The bill will foment racial profiling and singles out ‘brown people’.

Actually, racial profiling is specifically prohibited in the measure by the unequivocal statement that one’s race may be considered only to the, quote, extent permitted by the United States or the Arizona Constitution unquote. Racial profiling, forbidden prior to this new law, will continue to be forbidden when the law goes into effect.

This measure may not be perfect, but it is absolutely necessary in light of the utter failure of the Federal Government to act responsibly and curb the mass disregard for the sovereignty of the United States of America.

Deucalion Mawronahan
27 April 2010

[1] http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf

[2] http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpa ... ation.html

[3] http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... r2-22.html