By Sally Mulder
Byron York has written two excellent articles on the Arizona Immigration Bill. In the first article, “A Carefully Crafted Immigration Law in Arizona”, Byron discusses the reality of the Arizona bill which, incidentally, he actually read before writing his article. An excerpt:
“‘For his part, President Obama calls the law “misguided” and says it “threaten[s] to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans.” Obama has ordered the Justice Department to “closely monitor the situation and examine the civil rights and other implications of this legislation.'”
The second article, “The Ten Dumbest Things Said About The Arizona Immigration Law”, refers the reader to Byron’s points in the first article that discredit inflammatory statements made by the media and others. Nazi references are not only disgusting, but show mind-numbing ignorance.
1. “The statute requires police officers to stop and question anyone who looks like an illegal immigrant.” ( LAW PROHIBITS THIS)
2. “As the Arizona abomination makes clear, there is a desperate need for federal immigration action to stop the country from turning into a nation of vigilantes suspicious of anybody with dark skin.” (ARIZONA IS VERY RACIALLY INTEGRATED)
– Dana Milbank, Washington Post
3. “I can’t imagine Arizonans now reverting to German Nazi and Russian Communist techniques whereby people are required to turn one another in to the authorities on any suspicion of documentation.” (LAW DOESN’T PROMOTE TURNING OTHERS IN)
4. “This law creates a suspect class, based in part on ethnicity, considered guilty until they prove themselves innocent. It makes it harder for illegal immigrants to live without scrutiny — but it also makes it harder for some American citizens to live without suspicion and humiliation. Americans are not accustomed to the command ‘Your papers, please,’ however politely delivered. The distinctly American response to such a request would be ‘Go to hell,’ and then ‘See you in court.’” (MICHAEL DOES HAVE A DRIVER’S LICENSE, RIGHT?)
– Michael Gerson, Washington Post
5. “In case the phrase ‘lawful contact’ makes it appear as if the police are authorized to act only if they observe an undocumented-looking person actually committing a crime, another section strips the statute of even that fig leaf of reassurance. ‘A person is guilty of trespassing,’ the law provides, by being ‘present on any public or private land in this state’ while lacking authorization to be in the United States — a new crime of breathing while undocumented.” (COMPLETELY FALSE)
– Linda Greenhouse, New York Times
(Greenhouse’s “trespassing” allegation was based on an early version of the Arizona bill that was not the bill that became law. Her mistake was later removed from the Times site, but you can see original version here.)
6. “Federal law treats illegal immigration as a civil violation; Arizona law criminalizes it by using the legally dubious mechanism of equating the mere presence of undocumented immigrants with trespassing.” (READ THE BILL BEFORE EDITORIZING!)
(This editorial makes the same mistake as Linda Greenhouse’s “trespassing” column above.)
7. “I am saddened today at the prospect of a young Hispanic immigrant in Arizona going to the grocery store and forgetting to bring her passport and immigration documents with her. I cannot be dispassionate about the fact that the very act of her being in the grocery store will soon be a crime in the state she lives in…An immigrant who is charged with the crime of trespassing for simply being in a community without his papers on him is being told he is committing a crime by simply being.” (ONLY IS SHE’S SHOPLIFTING OR HOLDING UP THE STORE)
– Bishop Desmond Tutu, Huffington Post
(Tutu is perhaps relying on the erroneous information in the New York Times and Washington Post above.)
8. “It harkens back to apartheid where all black people in South Africa were required to carry documents in order to move from one part of town to another.” (SO CYNTHIA MAYBE WANTS DRUG-RUNNING, KIDNAPPING, MURDERING ILLEGALS TO MOVE TO ATLANTA)
– Cynthia Tucker, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, on ABC’s “This Week”
9. “You can imagine, if you are a Hispanic American in Arizona…suddenly, if you don’t have your papers and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you’re going to be harassed.” (UNIFORMED, DIVISIVE, INCITING ANGER AGAINST ARIZONANS)
10. “This week, Arizona signed the toughest illegal immigration law in the country which will allow police to demand identification papers from anyone they suspect is in the country illegally. I know there’s some people in Arizona worried that Obama is acting like Hitler, but could we all agree that there’s nothing more Nazi than saying ‘Show me your papers?’ There’s never been a World War II movie that didn’t include the line ’show me your papers.’ It’s their catchphrase. Every time someone says ’show me your papers,’ Hitler’s family gets a residual check. So heads up, Arizona; that’s fascism. I know, I know, it’s a dry fascism, but it’s still fascism.” (WHAT A WIT! PERFECT EXAMPLE WHY AMERCIANS SHOULD NOT LISTEN TO KNOW NOTHING ‘CELEBRATIES’)
– Seth Myers, “Saturday Night Live”
Arizonans, aka fellow Americans, are happy to engage in intelligent discussion with anyone who has not only read the bill, but also researched the criminal and financial factors that necessitate the enforcement of US immigration laws through the implementation of this reasonable bill. Where is their compassion for Arizonans who are being threatened, attacked,murdered, and their property stolen?
If these people are truly concerned, they should speak out against their fellow citizen’s drug use (are you listening, Seth Myers?) which is fueling this Arizona narco-drug war.
They should use their platforms to inform Americans about the kidnapping and victimization of illegals by other illegals – namely coyotes and drug lords.
Lastly, and more importantly, they should put their money where their mouths are. It would so easy for any of these people to show their compassion while demonstrating what lily-livered cowards Arizonans are. Let’s have a house exchange for a month! Seth, Cynthia, and company, of course to make it realistic they must bring friends and family, can find out what it’s like to live daily in fear of these harmless illegals, who are just here to seek a better economic life mowing lawns! Sounds like a riveting reality show to me. Any bets on how long they’d last?
Read more at the Washington Examiner: Well Crafted Law and 10 Dumbest Things