2 Thumbs Up for Arizona!

Ok, so I have already ranted on illegal immigration previously, but as we all know, nothing has substantially changed on that topic except that it is finally at the forefront of the national news because on Friday, Arizona passed a new tough illegal immigration law. As a border state, Arizona is on the front lines in this battle. They experience the downside of illegal immigration a lot more than most of the states in the middle of the country or those that are away from the southern borders. They have a very high crime rate and most of it is due to illegals sneaking in through their state.

I think all of the people that are threatening to protest this new law should really think about what they are saying by protesting. From my understanding of the new law, in Arizona drivers can be pulled over or questioned by police if they are suspected of committing a traffic violation or some other crime and then can be asked to prove their immigration status. This law was not meant as a free license to stop, detain, or pull people over JUST to ask for their immigration status.

So if you are protesting the police asking a potential law breaker for their immigration status, you are saying that everyone who is here in the US should get to stay here regardless of whether they are here legally or not and whether they are here illegally and committing crimes or not.

That concept defies national laws already on the books and defies our country's right to sovereignty. We have not only the right but the obligation to know who is entering our country; in case anyone forgot, we are AT WAR with radical Islamic terrorists who are overjoyed that at the moment they can sneak into our country carrying God knows what with them whenever they feel like it, and we don't have the stones to stop them from doing it.

As I have stated before, I believe in immigration. We are all the product of immigrants here in the USA unless your genealogy is pure Native American. If that is the case you can say you were here first.

We need to have a common sense policy where anyone coming here with the intent to stay will benefit our country, not drag it down. We don't need criminals coming here, or terrorists. We need smart, hard working people willing to live by our laws, speak our language, pay taxes to our government. We need to have a system that follows immigrants until they finish the process of becoming citizens. We need to know where they are and what they are doing. That is that. If you don't like being tracked, then you can leave, or just don't come here to begin with.

It is not cruel , or a punishment for the US to have a stated policy on immigration that it enforces. It is not aimed at anyone in particular other than those that would flout the law and sneak in here. It is ridiculous in this day and age of terrorism that we have a free flowing supply of nameless faceless humans crossing into the US and disappearing into cities all over the country and we really have no way to find them.

There are several ways to slow or reverse this trend other than arrest and deportation. That will not stop the desire of the people to come here.

What will stop them coming here illegally in addition to legal sanctions are instituting these practices:

1. If you are caught coming here illegally, you will NEVER be granted citizenship, ever.
2. If you are employing illegal immigrants, and thus avoiding paying payroll taxes, social security, etc, you go to jail and your business is seized by the IRS for non payment/compliance.
3. If you rent a house or apartment to illegal immigrants, you go to jail and your house or apartment building can be seized by the US government and sold at auction.
4. If you treat someone at the Emergency Room that has no ID, or is known to be an illegal immigrant, you must report that status to local authorities. They can take it from there.
5. If you apply for welfare, food stamps, section 8 housing, or any other government funded social program, you must show your immigration status. Illegal immigrants will not receive taxpayer funded government entitlements.
6. Allow our border patrol to do what they were hired to do. If they catch someone attempting to cross illegally, they need to be fingerprinted, photographed, and that information kept on file with the FBI. Then they can be shipped back by bus to the other side of the border. It is their problem to get home from there.
7. Illegal immigrants should not receive college scholarships, be allowed to get driver's licenses, or any other government permit.
8. Anyone seeking to become a citizen here must learn to speak English in order to pass the Citizenship test.

Times are tough for many people in the US. There are so many people out of work. YES, our citizens would take jobs that illegals currently fill, there just aren't any contractors hiring US citizens because they can get away with paying less than minimum wage to the illegals. There are plenty of citizens that would be happy to have a job right now, any job.

I am hoping that what happened in Arizona will spur our government to FINALLY do something about this situation. The people here illegally should not be rewarded with instant citizenship. They did it the wrong way and there are so many that waited and worked and became US citizens the right way. It would not be fair to those people who did it the right way.

This is a huge issue made bigger by the serious lack of desire to make the necessary changes and decisions by the last several presidents. No president wants to be "that guy that sends the illegals home." That will anger some large Latino voting blocks and thus will threaten future elections. I think President Obama is going to have to be "that guy" because the topic is now on top of the heap and is not going away anytime soon.

Maybe when illegal immigration is an issue with a plan, our country's financial situation will stabilize. There may be more jobs and industries that pop up with regard to new immigration policies. There may have to be a national ID card-and a company that produces it and the software to run it. There may have to be more border patrol agents, vehicles, cameras, fences, etc. Jobs will be created there. There will be many minimum wage jobs left vacant when illegals leave here because they cannot be hired and cannot find housing or get food stamps, welfare, health care.
The drain on our economy that is experienced by the taxpayers having to support all of the illegal families that are here (school costs and health care costs that are not paid by the illegals) may be reduced to a trickle. The savings to the social programs will be enormous.

Our President and Congress have to get a grip on this situation and DO SOMETHING instead of putting it off for the next president. Obama campaigned on immigration reform, so I am anxious to see that come to pass now. The ball is in his court and the court of our Congress. Maybe this time, they will do the right thing and pass SENSIBLE immigration reform.

Whether you agree or disagree with the new law in Arizona, you have to give them credit for bringing this issue to the top of the agenda. Kudos to you, Arizona. We may all be thanking you soon.