The Arizona immigration law

Obviously we don't want people entering the country illegally for many reasons especially if they are criminals and/or terrorists and it seems (according to the conservative lawyer bloggers) that the judge decided incorrectly today but I'm glad the process has been slowed down a bit.

All Americans (not just Arizonans) need to talk about this more because it affects us all. If we let individual states make laws unilaterally, then not only legal Latin Americans but illegal ones will migrate to other states. Many of the Mexicans who are leaving Arizona now are not going back to Mexico but are moving to other states - like Oregon. It is therefore essential that this problem is sorted out by all the states through the Federal government.

And it's a very difficult problem. Unlike the hordes of illegal Irish and Russian immigrants, most Latin Americans do look different from most Americans because they are neither white nor black. It is essential that only those who are involved in criminal activities be required to prove their legal immigrant status otherwise millions of Latin Americans will have to carry their birth certificates or naturalization papers all the time.

I don't carry my naturalization certificate all the time and would be resentful if I had to. I was born and raised in a police state which required everyone to carry ID at all times and I can tell you it is creepy when the state is that intrusively authoritarian. Millions of legal Latin American citizens would be subjected to something that most of us are not subjected to. Such government intrusion makes people feel like subjects instead of citizens.

We need to tread very carefully here because, as soon as you encroach on another citizen's freedom, you are in danger of curtailing your own. For a police state to function efficiently, a lot of personal freedom and sovereignty must be sacrificed by all and we cease to be citizens and become subjects.

The bottom line is that the borders have to be secured by the Federal government. Then we can talk and see if we can find a humane solution to the problem of those who are already here without the state intruding on or curtailing any American citizen's individual sovereignty just because they look Latin American.

White South Africans eventually had to face up to the fact that they lived on the continent of Africa. They could adapt or leave. Americans have to accept the fact that we live on a continent that includes Latin America and deal with the difficulties that that incurs.