Opinion: Arizona SB 1070

The April 23rd, 2010 signing into law of Arizona SB 1070, which revised the state's statute regarding the enforcement of state and federal immigration laws, has stirred up a wave of controversy and increased racial tension between whites and non-whites across the United States. News coverage and video of protests, riots, assaults and civil disobedience in support of or against the measure are commonplace.

The law, in its most basic terms, requires law enforcement officers ask for green card if they suspect someone is an illegal alien and detain those who are unable to produce documentation for possible prosecution and deportation. In defense of her signing the bill, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, a Republican, said in an official statement, “Senate Bill 1070 – represents another tool for our state to use as we work to solve a crisis we did not create and the federal government has refused to fix… The crisis caused by illegal immigration and Arizona’s porous border.” (Brewer 2010)

Within the state and across the country, Governor Brewer has strong support as shown by a Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of state voters showing her approval rating had risen to 56% as of April 28^th 2010. (Rasmussen Reports, LLC 28). A brief search of Yahoo ANSWERS Politics forum yielded some insight as to why supporters are in favor of the new law.

A poster using the screen name “hanson” shows his support for Brewer by calling her a national hero before explaining he is a 10 year resident of Arizona before loosely referring to the victims of a current murder case in San Francisco as his justification.  (hanson 2010) The currently case of Edwin Ramos, an alleged gang member accused of killing a father and his two sons, fits the poster’s description of an illegal alien arrested for murder who had been arrested 3 times previously and was shielded from deportation by San Francisco’s sanctuary status and California law barring local officials from turning him over to immigration authorities for deportation. (Van Derboken 2010)

Supporters of the law see illegal aliens as the source of violent crime in their communities. The murder of Robert Krentz, an Arizona rancher found shot dead on his all-terrain vehicle, has other ranchers feeling uneasy andfearing for their safety. A trail of footprints leading away from the crime scene and tracked back to the Mexican border fuels speculation that Krentz was murdered by an illegal alien. In response to the murder, demands for immigration reform are growing stronger and advocates for stricter immigration control are citing Krenzt’s murder as proof that border violence is out of control.  (Wood 2010)

Realistically, what can be done to reduce or prevent illegal immigration into the United States? Let us briefly examine a few American ideas that are often stated facetiously over a beer.

The first idea: Why don’t we annex Mexico and make it the 51^st state? Plausibility aside, let us examine some potential results, problems and benefits of this unlikely solution.

What this would in effect do is create a state with 112,000,000 citizens (CIA 2010). And now, being Americans, a large percentage of the Mexicans that have lived in squalor all their lives are going to qualify for welfare and health care. While this in itself is not a bad thing on a humanitarian level, economically however, the wallet of John Q. Taxpayer recoils instinctively at the thought of the tax burden associated with such an endeavor.

Second idea: Build a solid barrier across the border from the sea off the shore of Border Field State Park in California to the sea off the shores of Boca Chica Park in Texas.

Besides potential international mockery regarding any East German or North Korean influence on any sort of design that would approach something effective in stopping illegal crossings, the cost of such a project would be staggering. The current 1 million dollar-per-mile border-security fence constructed in Arizona and California is easily crossed by children and the elderly. (Von Drehle 2008) Such an idea also has environmental concerns as it would likely disrupt wildlife patterns by breaking small populations of animals into smaller populations separated by said fence. (Science Centric 2009)

The third option: Open the US-Mexican border completely and let whoever wants to come in.

Putting Homeland Security concerns aside regarding potential terrorist incursions, illegal drug smugglers and crime, the idea was actually suggested by Mexican 2000-2006 President Vincente Fox during an interview on ABC’s “This Week” in 2000 in which he inaccurately predicted an open border where people moved freely between Mexico and the United States would exist by 2010. While American politicians and journalists rebuked the idea, it has some merit when taken into consideration from the perspective of globalization. In this aspect, America is in a better position to benefit than Europe is with its European Union to benefit from a North American Union and should be seen as an evolutionary step rather than a cataclysmic event. (Michaelidis 2000)

Looking historically at the amount of American and foreign interference that has occurred in Mexican affairs since before the time of Mexican independence, it is no wonder that Mexico has internal strife problems. American imperialism has made certain Mexican resources such as oil and labor were historically made available cheaply to American interests while little or nothing went to better Mexican society. (La Botz 1999)

Whatever solution the Obama Administration may come up with in regards to immigration reform, it will likely be so twisted and diluted by political infighting that it will end up being as effective as the current policy is at stopping illegal crossings. 

Bibliography:

Brewer, Janet K. "STATEMENT BY GOVERNOR JAN BREWER: SB1070." Sonoran Weekly Review. April 25, 2010. http://sonoranweeklyreview.com/statement-by-governor-jan-brewer-sb1070/ (accessed May 2010, 15).

CIA. "Mexico." The World Factbook. April 28, 2010. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mx.html (accessed May 15, 2010).

—. "United States." The World Factbook. May 3, 2010. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html (accessed May 15, 2010).

FOX News Network, LLC. "Border States Deal With More Illegal Immigrant Crime Than Most, Data Suggest." FoxNews.com. April 30, 2010. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/04/29/border-states-dealing-illegal-immigrant-crime-data-suggests/ (accessed May 15, 2010).

hanson. Open Question: Is jan brewer a secret democrat given her recent efforts to destroy the republican party? May 11, 2010. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100511232657AAIKBML (accessed May 15, 2010).

La Botz, Dan. Mask of democracy: labor suppression in Mexico today. South End Press, 1999.

Michaelidis, Gregory. "Open U.S.-Mexican Border." Brookings. July 28, 2000. http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2000/0728mexico_michaelidis.aspx (accessed May 16, 2010).

Rasmussen Reports, LLC. "Election 2010: Arizona Governor." Rasmussen Reports. April 2010, 28. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2010/election_2010_governor_elections/arizona/election_2010_arizona_governor (accessed May 2010, 15).

Science Centric. "US-Mexico border wall could threaten wildlife species." Science Centric. July 8, 2009. http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070834-us-mexico-border-wall-could-threaten-wildlife-species (accessed May 15, 2010).

Van Derboken, Jaxon. "Slaying suspect once found sanctuary." SFGate. July 2008, 2010. http://articles.sfgate.com/2008-07-20/news/17173999_1_immigration-status-el-salvador-illegal-immigrant (accessed May 15, 2010).

Von Drehle, David. "The Great Wall of America." Time. June 19, 2008. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1816488,00.html (accessed May 25, 2010).

Wood, Daniel B. "Robert Krentz killing stokes fears of rampant illegal immigration." The Christian Science Monitor. March 31, 2010. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0331/Robert-Krentz-killing-stokes-fears-of-rampant-illegal-immigration (accessed May 15, 2010).