Arizona Immigration: Vigilante Justice

What's the difference between the state of Arizon and South Dakota?

Sure, "Heat vs. Snow", "Grand Canyon vs. Mount Rushmore", "South vs. North" and many more. Of course these are obvious differences that come to our minds but these are differences of Geography and Engineering marvels. Every US state will be different in some ways to other state. But a significant difference that is always missed is the fact that South Dakota share its borders with other US states and therefore has total control over it. Arizona on the other hand shares its border with another country - Mexico, and that makes all the difference!

How is sharing a border with other state different than sharing it with another country? To begin with, Arizona does not control Border Patrol, its a Federal Law Enforcement Agency. So unlike South Dokota, Arizona is at the MERCY of Federal government to ensure border security and immigration check points. But the intersting thing about all this is that once the immigrants - whether legal or illegal, are in Arizona, its no longer a Federal issue - it becomes a state issue.

Arizona is free to reap benefits that immigration brings with it - necessary labor, additional taxes and contribution to Arizona economy.

But along with these benefits there is a significant cost involved with illegal immigration.

Arizonans fork out nearly $1.3 billion annually to pay for all of the costs incurred from illegal immigration; around $810 million for education, $400 million for health care related expenses, $80 million in incarceration costs, and the remainder in welfare benefits. All of this is required while Arizona runs a $500 million deficit annually.

So Arizona is in a quandry. They don't want to fork out unneccesary dollars for illegal immigrants. The easy fix is to not allow illegal immigrants through the border but they don't control this. The border is controlled by Federal government and inspite of numerous requests, the Federal government is ineffective in controlling the flow of ilegal immigrants into Arizona. It's like I have a house to manage but additional "guests" keep coming in through the back door and the "host" must provide for thier school, food and medical expenses and yes, some of the "guests" do get into fight with the original residents of the house and the "host" also needs to descipline the "guests". One easy solution for the "host" would be to close the back door but the entry to the back door is controlled by Homeowner's Association!

What should Arizona do to mitigate the crime and voilence due to illegal immigration? What should Arizona do to reduce the cost associated with illegal immigration? What should Arizona do to be fair to its residents? Well, with the passage of the Arizona SB1070 bill into law, Arizona took matter in its own hands. They came up with a state solution to a federal problem.

The law makes it a state misdemeanor crime for anyone to be in the United States unlawfully, and requires police to make an attempt, when practicable, to determine a person's immigration status if there is reasonable suspicion that the person is an illegal alien. Police may, without a warrant, arrest a person if there is probable cause that the person is an illegal alien or is a legal alien not in possession of registration documents that the person is required to carry by federal law.

The above legalese can be translated into a simple statement - in Arizona, one can be stopped and asked for papers if there is a reasonable suspicion that the person is illegal immigrant. I am not sure what is meant by reasonable suspicion. I doubt if anybody does.

So is the law fair?

Well, stopping somebody and asking for papers brings out the worst memories of the Hitler era. But before we take this comparison too far, lets be clear with one big difference - in Nazi Germany the people asking for the papers were the oppressors and the Jews providing the papers were the sufferers however; in Arizona the people asking for papers are the sufferes dealign with crime and economic injustice. The illegal immigrants on the other hands are the criminals.

But nobody likes to be stopped and asked for papers in a country that is made of immigrants from the very beginning.

This translates to only one thing the current Arizona immigration law is "Vigilante Justice". Is Vigilante Justice acceptable? That depends on the situation. If my house is robbed on a regular basis and the police does not do anything in spite of numerous complaints then what should I do? Sit and be robbed again or take arms against the robber before he commits another crime? Its easy to dismiss Vigilante Justice on the moral grounds but once you are put into the situation where your family's safety is compromised, I think any reasonable person would be a Vigilante.

The real problem here is not the illegal immigrant, he is just the symptom. The problem here is also not the new Arizona state law, that's an act of defiance against the federal status quo. The real problem here is the Federal Government and its inability to control the borders.

I believe that the real solution would be to have state manage its own border except for war. As I have already said, if I cannot control the "guests" coming in from the back door, then don't blame me if I come up with a plan to kick them out when I want to.

Remember, this is my house!