Can I See Your Green Card Please?

Again, this is kind of old news. I don't know why I haven't written about it yet, but this time it is personal.

Arizona has passed this lovely law that gives police officers unfettered authority to demand that any individual they deem to be illegal produce their papers to prove their legal status. How does one suppose the officers will determine if they think someone is illegal? I'll give you a hint...

The United States Supreme Court, in a 1975 case, ruled that immigration officers can include racial or ethnic identity among factors in deciding whether to check someone’s right to be in the country. (NYT, 6/18/10)

That's right folks; racial profiling has legal precedent! Good job Supreme Court...

As a Mexican-American I feel personally attacked by this law. Okay, so I don't look or sound Mexican but my father does and under this law, if he were in Arizona, he would be required to prove that he is a citizen if any random officer decided to go on a power trip. I understand that an illegal act is an illegal act however, this law does nothing to solve the real problem and as such is merely a useless piece of "band-aid" legislation. Except this band-aid also happens to be covered in the grime of racial discrimination.

A real solution to illegal immigration is not to deport every single one of them, or patrol the border with assault rifles, or even to build a giant fence. A real solution will come when we make visas and work permits cheaper and easier to obtain. People cross illegally (and as drug runners) because 99% of the time it is the only way they can afford to make into the United States to find work. The money they make in the States is often the only income that a family will have seen in months and definitely the most they will have seen in years. All of the paperwork that is required to legal cross the border is about $500 or more per person. For a family of five that's $2500 which is (on average) more than most people make in 5 months in Mexico. Imagine spending a little over a third of you yearly income just so you can find a job. This is why people illegally come into the country. They have to choose between legally crossing the border or having food for the next few months. The Immigration Departments bureaucracy and greed is what needs to be fixed not the "illegal problem".