Alabama’s state motto is, “Audemus jura nostra defendere” – We Dare Defend Our Rights. Indeed they did just that when the court allowed Alabama’s Immigration Enforcement bill to finally proceed. It’s hard to overstate the importance of Judge Blackburn’s decision; it will accelerate the pace of state action, and at the same time, result in more harassment from the Obama Administration, two diametrically opposing forces now in motion. The Alabama decision removes many legal obstacles that have kept other states idling at the starting gate and has put the Department of Justice (DOJ) into high gear trying to determine how they will stop further state action. A Constitutional Showdown is occurring between the president who is bypassing Congress using immigration policy as a political instrument, and states that regard it as law that should be enforced….Best Alabama-Related Quote of the Week came from Lamar Smith (R-TX). Commenting on the obvious political motivations behind the Obama Administration’s assault on state enforcement bills, Smith said “the DOJ is not part of the Democratic National Committee.”…. the News Media’s Hostile Reaction to Alabama is déjà vu. Alabama’s law, like Arizona’s law last year, is being described as the “Papers Please Law.” The Ear would observe that the “papers” required by police officers during a lawful traffic stop are a drivers license, a vehicle registration and a proof of insurance, meaning nothing has changed except if a driver has none of those. After that, yes a driver might need to provide further documentation proving he/she is residing legally in the U.S. Not speaking English and having 15 other people crammed into a van – none of whom have documentation either – is envisioned as “reasonable suspicion” by most reasonable folks…. Meanwhile, the Associated Press was quick to run an irresponsible story headlined “Hispanic Students Vanish from Alabama Schools, suggesting that the new law is creating panic. Here again, the Ear would like to impart some common sense. Special interest groups whipping up hysteria by encouraging parents to keep their kids at home are doing nothing less than denying children an education which the Supreme Court mandates and which the Alabama law upholds. Alabama’s law requires schools to track immigration status, not deny public education…. Why would Rhode Island Do That? Approve in-state tuition for illegal aliens, that is. R.I. Governor Chafee has an answer, “to improve the intellectual and cultural life of (R.I.) while strengthening our work force and economy.” Nice move governor. State taxpayers already shell out almost $300 million a year subsidizing illegal immigration and now the state just created a massive new incentive for more illegal aliens to flood there…. Heard this week in Washington, D.C., Pinal County, Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu aptly summed up the Obama administration’s new priorities for detaining and deporting only violent criminal aliens saying, “imagine if you called your local police department to report a crime and they responded by saying ‘today we’re only responding to bank robberies, please call back later.’”
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Content written by Federation for American Immigration Reform staff.
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The only businesses that will close will be those that cater to the needs of foreign nationals who live here in violation of immigration laws. Those businesses would include money-transfer angencies (e.g. Moneygram, Western Union, Tex-Mex, Cervantes, Bank of America, Wells Fargo,et.al.), check cashing companies, grocery stores like Liborios (NV) and Pros Ranch Markets (AZ, NM) that cater to the tastes of Hispanic markets. Most other businesses will not be affected negatively. As proof, think about the economic blackmail attempted by Hispanic groups several years ago in the form of a “Day without a Mexican” in California. Activist groups agitated Hispanics to not go to work or buy for a whole day just to teach America what they would be losing without Mexicans. Well, it fizzled because most people were happy to see less traffic on the freeways and less crowds everywhere and fewer people standing around on sidewalks waiting to be picked up for menial labor jobs. The economic impact of their boycott was so miniscule that no one noticed. So much for a day without a Mexican. Notice how they haven’t attempted that ploy again. Most people who live here in violation of immigration laws buy at the extreme low end of the consumer scale. They frequently buy at flea markets and yard sales so they are not contributing to state sales tax revenues. Many of them work at flea markets so again they are not paying gross receipts or sales taxes nor employee taxes.
About the only reforms that need to be enacted include a congressional statute that would require students to prove citizenship or legal residency in order to attend schools and a congressional statute that clearly states that citizensip can only go to the children of citizens. No one else. After that, just enforce the current laws that are on the books.
James, you really need to consider on whose side you are on. Are you on the side of American citizens or on the side of foreign nationals who ignore the laws of your country and thereby harm it and its citizens?
All these bills are aimed at bringing upon hardship so the illegals self-deport. But in the process it is going to hurt everyone for many years to come. One can argue a point however long they want to. Apart from all the differences, the solution is to bring about a reform plan while implementing tough new laws. One must not forget these 12 million so called illegals are also part of our labor/consumer force. Displacing so many will cause many businesses to have no other option, but close.
Illegal alien lovers can argue all day but their positions do not pass the sniff test with any human with a brain or common sense. I eat illegal alien lover arguments for lunch.
Just enforcing existing immigration laws will force hardship on illegal alien law breakers as it should so as to make sure that other potential illegal alien law breakers think twice about coming to our country without permission. If any business here can not survive without illegal alien employees or “independent contractors”, then such business does not deserve to exist. Such business is not a viable entity if it can only exist illegally. Duh.
Go ahead and make more arguments for illegal aliens that I can cut down like dry wood. It is always fun to squash idiots.