How can a nation founded by immigrants turn her back on them? The US is a great country that has achieved its present global status and strength thanks to the contribution of immigrants. However, a country that once greeted newcomers and that has immigration on its own DNA is betraying its principles, distancing itself of what made it what it is now.
The border state of Arizona passed on April a new immigration law, the notorious SB 1070. This new law allows racial profiling as a mean to identify illegal immigrants within the state. According the Senate Bill 1070, immigrants have to carry with them their alien registration documents at all times since policemen have to question everyone they think that can be an illegal immigrant. If the person doesn’t have his documents with him at the time the police question him he can be detained as it will be considered a crime. The reason behind this is the aim to reduce criminality, thus relating crime to immigration. So the intentions behind this law seem clear.
In a state like Arizona, sharing a border with Mexico, I doubt policemen will question white ‘European looking’ people about their origin. It will be Hispanic people who will be targeted by the security forces. Therefore, it will be race what will determine who will be questioned. In other words, Hispanic immigrants, whether legal or illegal, will suffer a ‘legal’ (since it was passed by Governor Jan Brewer) form of racism, even though officials in Arizona don’t want to see it that way. Instead of moving on, it seems as is Brewer wants to go back to the past, when race was seen as a barrier between people.
It is somewhat ironic that this law against the Hispanic community was passed in Arizona. Around 30% of the state’s population is Hispanic, which accounts for nearly 2 million people. Mexicans lived in those lands long before the Americans annexed most of Arizona in 1848 and purchased the rest of it 1853. By that time the newcomers and aliens were the Americans but it seems that one and a half centuries later that has been forgotten. Someone should teach Governor Jan Brewer some history.
The timing of this deviant law couldn’t be better for Brewer and her acolytes. With the economy still struggling and not fully recovering and with President Barack Obama facing various political threats (both domestically and internationally) the time is right for the SB 1070 to succeed. The people, mostly those that are having a hard time making ends meet, are blinded my desperation so its no surprise that, according to an opinion poll on the issue carried out by CBS News, 57% of the people think the law is ‘about right’ and 17% think it ‘doesn’t go far enough.’ Only 23 % of the 996 people interviewed nationwide thought the draconian law ‘goes too far.’ Many of the people feel that illegal immigrants are stealing the jobs from the average American citizen. They can’t be blamed for thinking that jobs are being taken away from them in a time of recession but the problem lies in the fact that fairly conservative politicians, leaded by the notorious Tea Party, are taking advantage of it to impose their own, and in many cases intolerant, views.
There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel as the United States Justice Department has filed a federal suit that challenges the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act (the law’s formal name) for usurping the federal government’s authority. There are other lawsuits filed against the law by different organizations and individuals, who claim the SB 1070 violates the Constitution. Will these law suits succeed in overturning Arizona’s new immigration law? It will take some time to see what happens as it is too early to go on speculating about it.
The US, a nation sustained by immigrants, could be on the brink of taking a vital turn for the country’s future. If Arizona is the only state that comes up with this kind of laws, something which unfortunately doesn’t seem like happening, the problem will be limited to one state and therefore would be easier to eradicate. Nevertheless, if other states follow Arizona’s example, the US could suffer an identity crisis as its principles would be at risk. Thus, both the USA’s diversity and the safe haven it has represented for minorities could be endangered.
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