Monday, May 10, 2010

Don't Hate Me!

There is a lot in the news right now about the new law in AZ that 'allows' racial profiling. I need to say my piece as immigration is close to my heart.

I was born in England and came here with a visa which while I worked on becoming a permanent resident I had a work visa. I paid taxes, jumped through each hoop and yes I had a lawyer help as some of the requirements do not seem straight forward at first. The point I am making is that when I choose to make this Country my home, I followed the rules and did each part as I was supposed to.

Illegal immigrants are an issue in AZ, I have worked many years at retail where I felt pressured to cater to people who did not want to follow the law. My point being if you want to be here, there are channels to do it properly and it may not be the easiest thing in the world but its better to have the law on your side than against it.

Now for my vent, at no point in the writings of this law does it say 'latino' or 'hispanic' need to be singled out and that is what individuals are saying this law says. An illegal immigrant could be white, (French, Italian, Russian, Canadian) so how is it racial profiling. It also now says that you have to be doing something wrong to be asked to provide documentation. If you are walking down the street, minding your own business then no problem. If you are drink driving, causing vandalism, not following the law to embrace that a police officer needs to speak to you then it is more than fair that you are asked for identification. If you are here illegally then you are breaking another law.

The truth of the matter is that you could be Hispanic, Russian, French, Canadian or any other origin and still be requested to show correct documents. The bigger issue is that the reason the law came into place is that there is a problem in AZ, we have illegal immigrants in car accidents without insurance, hospitals are seeing an influx of individuals without insurance, jobs are scarce as some immigrants will work for less than minimum wage meaning that those who are allowed to work can't get it. We even have illegal immigrants getting Tax ID's instead of Socials so they can work. I have lived in neighborhoods where I was scared to come out of the house after dark, even one with a rumored Coyote house on the corner. I have also had to deal with areas where individuals have REFUSED to learn the language. I have traveled to many countries and have at least attempted the language (even though I may have butchered it)

AZ is in the top 10 states for crime rate and that is not a good place to be according to the national crime index and at the same time AZ is in the top 5 states for illegal immigration according to the new Hispanic Center. So something needed to be done to help bring these statistics in line with national average.

I am not saying it was right, I'm saying that if you follow the law and as a business you do not cater to illegal immigrants then why is there such a big hoopla. Those making the most noise probably have the most to lose and maybe should look to the facts and not the drama of the issue.

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