Apr
29
A lot of people lately have been asking me about the new and highly controversial immigration law in Arizona, which has drawn massive media coverage all over the world… The bill encourages police officers to engage in racial profiling by ordering them to check the status of people they merely suspect of being in the U.S. illegally. Today I had the “pleasure” of watching Donald Trump and his Slovenian wife Melania discussing the new law… The highlight of the interview was her statement that “Well, I think everybody needs to have papers to be legally here’’. Being Slovenian, I understand where she’s coming from, as bureaucracy is something completely innate here… But as an American, I find it tough to juxtapose the instinct for law & order with the fact that America is the product of massive immigration… Only perhaps not on the scale of chaos, violence and mayhem for profit witnessed today in modern day Arizona.
To understand Arizona, you have to keep in mind that it was one of the last states to be admitted to the Union, the 48th (and absolute last of the contiguous) to be exact. It is still considered one of the most fiercely independent states in the country, with a flurry of seemingly contradictory laws. For instance, everyone can carry a gun, and I (was) no exception. Without ever having been in the military, I was trained by friends (who could easily form their own militia) to use and fire everything from .40 caliber handguns to the AK-47 assault rifle and even the Dragunov sniper rifle. Nothing shocks my Euro friends more than talking about guns. Meanwhile, cutting down a saguaro cactus is something that can get you a 25 year prison term for (more dumb laws). Arizona is also heaven for hard core conservatives, from Barry Goldwater, who unsuccessfully ran for President in 1964 and lost BIG, to John McCain (who also plays moderate if need be), current senator from Arizona, and known to most of you as the guy who ran for President twice, losing the Republican nomination to Bush in 2000 and the general election to Obama more recently… Meanwhile, there’s no one like Joe Arpaio, a former DEA agent turned widely despised and/or admired Sheriff of Maricopa County, to foment controversy (his famous pink underwear even has its own site). Losers all? On the national level, perhaps… But in Arizona, they are heroes to many.
This brings me to my main point: the reason the new anti-immigration law was passed goes to the core of the states’ rights issue. It is a bit tricky for Europeans to understand (try as it might, the EU has not yet achieved the same level of cohesion), but the United States was founded on states rights – up to a point. The federal government still reserves many rights, and enforces its will with the distribution of funds to individual states. The problem Arizona faces, and the reason it decided for this desperate measure is that the federal government has failed to stem the massive inflow of immigration and related crime that comes with it (namely human trafficking & drugs). Back in 1994, California tried to pass something similar, cutting off services including health care and public education for illegal immigrants. That measure was ultimately deemed unconstitutional. But Arizona is now the main point of entry to the United States for migrants coming in from Mexico (ironically, precisely because of California, where the San Diego border was massively fortified), and many in the state feel the federal government is doing nothing about it.
In Slovenia, it would be akin to Bela krajina having thousands of illegals crossing over the border everyday including innocent women bound to be prostituted by criminal gangs, dead people all over the place and boatloads of drugs getting through without the politicians in Ljubljana even batting an eyelash. In these kinds of situations, people tend to get desperate. This will definitely be one controversy to watch and debate. What do you think?
Tags
Global trends,
Politics,
Society
Tags: anti-immigration law, Arizona, barry goldwater, california, crime, federal government, human trafficking, illegal immigration, joe arpaio, john mccain, Melania Knauss, racial profiling, states rights, United States
Posted in Global trends Politics Society
Posted by Nick Taylor
A lot of people lately have been asking me about the new and highly controversial immigration law in Arizona, which has drawn massive media coverage all over the world… The bill encourages police officers to engage in racial profiling by ordering them to check the status of people they merely suspect of being in the U.S. illegally. Today I had the “pleasure” of watching Donald Trump and his Slovenian wife Melania discussing the new law… The highlight of the interview was her statement that “Well, I think everybody needs to have papers to be legally here’’. Being Slovenian, I understand where she’s coming from, as bureaucracy is something completely innate here… But as an American, I find it tough to juxtapose the instinct for law & order with the fact that America is the product of massive immigration… Only perhaps not on the scale of chaos, violence and mayhem for profit witnessed today in modern day Arizona. 
