AZ SB1070: If it's making people this mad, it must be a good thing.

“These are the times that try men’s souls.” – wrote Thomas Paine during the U.S. War of Independence at a time when Continental forces had not yet won a major battle. After the Christmas Eve assault on a vastly superior force of Hessians, mercenaries on King George’s payroll and possessed of a ferocious reputation, the Continentals got into the habit winning far more frequently than losing.

Today the people of the United States are now faced with a similar situation within the narrow context of illegal immigration. I will not go into why so many people from Mexico, Central and South America are trying to get into the U.S. other than to say that there are job opportunities here that don’t exist in their own countries.

In 1954, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service executed Operation Wetback (what a HORRIBLE name), which focused on removing 1.2 million illegal immigrants from the southwest. It focused, unsurprisingly, on Mexicans in the nation illegally.
In 1965, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 restricted, for the first time, the number of Mexicans immigrating to the U.S. It has failed to work.
In 1976, President Jimmy Carter and the U.S. Congress tried to grant amnesty to millions of undocumented workers. The proposed legislation was so unpopular that it failed to get out of committee.
In 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control act of 1996, which granted amnesty to about 2.3 million undocumented workers but was also supposed to restrict business from knowingly hire them. It has failed to work.
In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. It increased Border Patrols, built a 20-mile long fence from the Pacific, changed rules for immigration detention. It has failed to work.
In 2005, President George Bush signed the REAL ID act, which further restricted political asylum, increased immigrant enforcement rules, and imposed federal restrictions on the practice of state driver’s licenses to immigrants.
In 2006, Congress tried to pass the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 and 2007. Both were supported by President Bush. However, since a key component of these acts were to grant amnesty to an estimated 12 million to 21 million undocumented aliens, populist backlash was unprecedented and the legislation never made it to the President’s desk.

This lists only recent attempts by the federal government to control the influx of immigrants or to address the problem of illegal immigration, In fact, the Alien Contract Labor Law of 1885 prohibited the importation or migration of foreigners under contract to perform labor in the U.S. and its territories.

So, with regards to Mexican illegal immigration, the border states (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California) are now filled to the brim with Mexican illegals because it is supposedly “racist” for the United States to enforce its own sovereignty with regards to controlling who is permitted within our borders.

Since 1954, the illegal immigrants are 21 million to zero. Zero! Have you looked at Mexico’s own laws concerning illegal immigrants? That’s a topic for another blog, but suffice it to say that in Mexico, it’s a felony punishable by up to two years in prison. Illegal re-entry after deportation carries a ten year sentence. Mexico maintains a nation population registry that tracks all outside tourists. Citizens of Mexico must carry an identity card. Visitors not carrying appropriate documentation are subject to arrest. Finally, foreigners may be deported without due process.

President Obama, representing the U.S. federal government, laments Arizona’s attempt to get this problem under control as “misguided”. Yet, Arizona SB1070 is fully compliant with the 4th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. SB1070 does NOT permit Arizona law enforcements officers to stop anybody at anytime and request “papers”. SB1070 does not permit officers to stop people for the purpose of identifying undocumented workers. However, SB1070 does permit officers, under circumstances of reasonable suspicion, to investigate whether a person detained for other reasons might be an illegal alien. In this case, “reasonable suspicion” can be interpreted to mean that if an officer stops a person for violating a traffic law, for example, and upon routine request for driver’s license and registration information, the driver cannot provide the license, the officer might then be permitted to inquire further as to the detainee’s citizenship status.

Since the federal government has elected through its non action to enforce its own immigration laws, the several states of the Union are obligated to protect their lawful citizenry. If that means that we get a hodge podge of immigration laws and differing levels of enforcement, there is nobody that President Obama and Congress can blame but themselves.