AZ Immigration Law

I was watching Rachel Maddow last night, and she was going on and on about this new AZ immigration law. She was talking about the fear of "racial profiling" and basically saying what all her viewers would want her to say. Sean Hannity of course also says what his viewers want to hear, that: "Proof of citizenship can only be requested by the authorities during, quote, 'lawful contact' by police. Meaning, the individual is already suspected of breaking the law. It's all right there in the legislation. But the left, well, they don't want you to know that."

Legal experts have come out somewhere in the middle. You can't just check someone's papers because they look Hispanic, but you can check anyone who is having any lawful contact with you as a police officer, if they have brought reasonable suspicion upon themselves.

I find it interesting that an entire nation is arguing about this AZ law and judging the people of Arizona, most without knowing what its like to live in Arizona. I can tell you that the hills move at night. There is a level of fear, especially in rural areas because of illegals crossing. That's not to say that these are bad people, but they are often desperate, having traveled for days over the mountains and desert. The citizens in southern Arizona are often caught in a moral dilemma: Do I give water, food, shelter to a human being in need at my doorstep? Do I call immigration? Will others stop here if I do help? Will I or my family be harmed if I don't? And the illegals while crossing leave behind pounds of garbage, clothing, personal items, and of course, excrement. They also start fires which damage property and put home owners at considerable risk. In AZ thousands cross the border illegally every night. It is our country's busiest illegal crossing point.

And how else does the illegal poplulation affect Arizona? Some argue that illegals do jobs that no one else would do. Others would say that they undercut pay and take jobs away from citizens. Besides the crimes committed during border crossings, there are other crimes committed by illegals once in the country. In Phoenix alone, nearly all of it's annual 57,000 car thefts are committed by illegals. Earlier this month, a rancher was executed at his home by an illegal. Add to that the rampant ID theft, forgery, drunk driving, driving without insurance and other assorted crimes, you can imagine that the AZ police are overwhelmed.

Let's not forget though that Arizona schools are full of the children of adult illegals, who don't pay taxes that support schools. In fact property taxes in Arizona support many of the programs that pay for illegals. Then there are the prisons and hospitals which are full of illegals. And lets not forget that the children born in this country to illegals are citizens, who are now on the receiving end of federally funded school & lunch programs. Who is paying for these people???

This moral high ground that the rest of the United States takes against Arizona and its efforts to bring this situation under control is laughable. People who are in this country illegally are breaking the law. The people of AZ should have the freedom to enforce the law. They should have the freedom to protect their citizens from crimes committed by illegals. They shouldn't have to continue to pay for people who are here illegally, at a detriment to their own families and communities. If the rest of the country wants to be tolerant and compassionate, let them open up their check books and come down to Arizona and help pay the high cost of illegal immigrants.