I find it interesting that in the middle of the need to create jobs, fix the economy etc., the need for immigration reform bubbles up again. Check out this article describing how it might be serving political needs rather than the needs of the population:
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/0426/Immigration-reform-Arizona-lobs-political-grenade-into-midterms
One of my ongoing questions related to this issue is that many will argue that immigrants provide a great service to our economy; however, one of the things that I worry about that both sides fail to discuss the fact that illegal immigration promotes human trafficking. Do you agree? Disagree?
Should we put immigration reform on the back burner until we deal with jobs? Or corporate greed?
One of the things that frustrates me about this topic is that some people are suggesting that asking people to show their "papers" is similar to Nazi Germany. While I do have some concerns about creating a society where we can't go anywhere without documentation (I can't get in the car to drive without my license), making the analogy that it is like Nazi Germany minimizes the experience of those who really did experience Nazi Germany. Survivors document experiences where soldiers could stop you at any point and kill you if you didn't have the proper documentation. I think that is very different than what is proposed in AZ. I do worry that we could resort to that kind of behavior, but I think that our Constitution may prevent that.
ReplyDeleteAnother question I have about this is the question of States' rights vs. Federal Law. Mark Shurtleff, Utah's Attorney General suggests that the law will not hold up in federal court since he thinks that the law contradicts federal law so it won't hold. I'd be interested to learn more about that.
Here is another issue related to the immigration reform. Someone sent me this link and asked for my comments on it. I would love to hear what others think about this Vietnam Vet's behavior!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nONjlZ8YMkA