Calls to boycott Arizona are spreading like a virus

Megan, before you cast that stone, wait to hear the rest of the story. Nobody is required to carry a birth certificate. What we heard is a sensational news story. If and when the rest of the story is told we will find there is more to it.

Think about it realistically. The law does not go into effect until Saturday so this was not a result of any changes. Does that story make sense to you? Can you imagine a police officer arresting anyone because they didn't have a birth certificate? There is no law requiring that even in Arizona.

He was arrested because they did not believe he was legal. If they arrested for any other reason, a birth certificate would not have freed him. End of story.

Driver's licenses can be forged, after all.

What Wade is saying... is that we don't know the entire story. It doesn't make sense. Why would they not interview the authorities involved, I can almost bet there was another reason for whatever happened. So far, it is one sided. Waiting and seeing where this goes might provide us the entire story.

Just my thoughts
I’ll start saying that I have all the papers and all the stuff that sais that I'm legally here as a international student, but it's awful that i would have to be carrying the 3 page paper in my wallet just in case I get pull over . What if i get robed or i lost them. I will not only have to pay lots of money to the school to redo the papers but i can even get deported by the school not the government just because i lost the dam papers. Although i look American meaning i have white skin and my facial features look like well you get the point and although i might never get stop and be ask to show my papers i still don’t like it but i respect it and understand it.
I agree with most of you guy’s and I can understand why some of you don’t like foreigners I mean most of the people that come here illegally are the rednecks of our country’s, and if it was backwards meaning you were illegally in Mexico so you can feed and provide your family with better opportunities i bet you would hate this law too but as a Mexican i wouldn’t like foreigners taking jobs and braking laws. Oh by the way I'm Mexican and proud to be so!

I do think this law is racist

What if you lost your papers but didn't get arrested? Isn't keeping track of those papers your responsibility regardless of this new law? Up till now have you had any problems with the police wondering if you were here legally? Do you have any reason to believe that will change. The immigration laws have not changed.

Nobody to this point has said they don't like foreigners or would want a halt to immigration. The issue is with illegal immigrants only.

Yes in a way the law is racist. It targets people who are in this country illegally.

Wade the law targets color skin, and i keep my papers save in my house not in my wallet wich can be easily lost.

What about people who are here on work visas? They can get a DL and a SS card, but what if they overstay their visas? Now they are here illegally. When stopped by police, they would have no problems showing documents that prove they are "Americans."

Unless you show a birth certificate, there is no way of proving you are indeed American. DL and SS cards are not only given to many immigrants who may never go back to their countries, they are also easily counterfeited.

As for student immigrants or even international tourists (people who can't get a SSN since they are not authorized to work in the US), they can easily get ID's with a valid visa (at least in CA).

I am eager to hear more about this law and what the required documents will be.

I've been stopped to check my passport on holiday in Greece, in Spain, in Paris. We don't carry any ID here in the UK, but it really wasn't any more hassle to remember to carry ID with me on holiday. So I'll still go to visit Arizona this year for my dude-ranching holiday. If enough people do boycott I might even get a better deal on my holiday!

wade said:

Yes in a way the law is racist. It targets people who are in this country illegally.

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Wade, pull your head out of your butt. It targets Mexicans.

jpccusa said:

Unless you show a birth certificate, there is no way of proving you are indeed American. DL and SS cards are not only given to many immigrants who may never go back to their countries, they are also easily counterfeited.

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Not in my state, Florida. You are required to provide a birth certificate or a passport and a social security card to get and renew a DL. As well as original documentation of every name change (marriage, divorce, remarriage, etc.) in one's life. I went with a passport as the simpler proof of ID, and to renew _that_ I needed to list my parents' cities of birth, birth dates, whether they were US citizens, and the same for my two ex-husbands. By the time I have a DL now, I'm am obviously a US citizen. It would be quite difficult to forge a Florida DL.

ComoxCorn said:

It targets Mexicans.

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. . . who are in this country illegally. You forgot that part.

I guess when I read articles like this http://www.sltrib.com/Nation and World/ci_14982346 I'm okay with needing to provide identification showing US citizenship. Of course, I'm just a naive, middle aged overweight, bald white guy. Last I checked though, naive, middle aged overweight bald white guys weren't illegally crossing the border in Arizona, or Texas, or New Mexico, or California. :shrugs:

But it's okay because "those people" are doing the jobs that others don't want do. Notice it's "don't want to do", not "can't" do. If the pompous, unemployed, lazy, able, legal citizens of the US would get off the teat and show some integrity, those jobs would get filled.

Speaking of integrity, when did it become okay to break the law?? I don't care if your speeding, stealing, or sneaking across the border. When did it become okay to break the law??

D80

Let me pretext this by saying I think we do need immigration reform.

Before this law a routine traffic stop that succeeded in catching an illegal resulted in reporting them to immigration authorities who did nothing about it. That is why we have millions of illegals here now. The fed was not doing their job. There are some things we should expect from the federal gov, like border control. Instead they are too busy trying to micromanage healthcare or who can marry whom or owning large portions of failing big businesses. Most of which should be state functions or citizens responsibility, so the state of AZ was forced to try and do the feds job that they were not doing.

It is not targeted at Latinos, it is targeting ILLEGAL immigrants crossing the border ILLEGALLY in AZ. There are between 11-13 million Mexicans illegally in this country. Who should they be targeting, 85 year old white grannys from Kansas?

Any LEO harassing a legal resident for no reason should absolutely be held accountable. But implying that AZ shouldn't even try to control crime in their state, because there is a chance that a US resident being asked for proof of legality would be offended, is fatuous. I am the last person that wants more laws and less freedom. But allowing 13 million people to break existing federal law under the pretense that someone may be offended seems near laughable to me.

I would be more apt to visit AZ after the law takes effect. Maybe it won't be quite the free flow super highway for the drug cartels and the crime that comes with it. I feel for the folks in southern California!

ComoxCorn said:

Are all immigrants in Arizona required to carry their immigration papers? I know here in Canada it is not a requirement that you carry those papers with you 24/7.

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If I am not mistaken, Federal law requires that you have "your papers" on you at all times as an immigrant. Furthermore, it requires that an immigration officer can ask you for them at anytime.

The AZ law takes this a step further. Now, local police can also ask you for "your papers" if they suspect you of being an illegal immigrant. Employers can also get in trouble for hiring illegals to work.

Already, many illegals are no longer lingering in Home Depot parking lots looking for day-labor work. The law doesn't go into effect until this summer, and already, illegal immigrants are leaving AZ to find work elsewhere.

This will eventually lead to more jobs for AZ citizens. It's a good law...even if a particular ethnic group seems to be singled out.

But, AZ passing this law not only doesn't solve the problem of the 11-13 million illegal immigrants (not only Mexicans Tsst) already here, it causes a problem in other states due to exodus, and it jeopardizes the well being of their own legal citizens, as I mentioned my friends in the OP.

BTW, I feel the need to clarify I don't think it is okay to break laws (even though I sometimes break a few and hope to not get caught doing it).

jpccusa said:

...it causes a problem in other states due to exodus...

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Then neighboring states need to pass similar laws to protect themselves? Force illegals back to Mexico, Canada, Cuba, wherever...

Nroc said:

This will eventually lead to more jobs for AZ citizens.

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Like Brent said, people would need to "get off the teat and show some integrity" in order to have those jobs filled. The problem is many won't do it. They will be a shortage of manual labor, and the price for the few existing ones will be much higher than what we are used to see. Talking about the real state crisis, forget about remodeling your house any time soon. And in that same token, groceries will be more expensive as well, which doesn't help in this economy either.

Nroc said:

It's a good law...even if a particular ethnic group seems to be singled out.

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WHAT?!?!?! The way I read this is "It is a good law even though a particular ethnic group will be discriminated against.
That is like saying "Racism is okay in some circumstances," am I wrong?

Would the people whom are against this law feel better if cops would ask any random race of citizen for their papers to obtain a reasonable mix of races in their sample and spend way more time to eventually find the illegal people? Then they would be called inefficient, right? Do those people also think using profiling expertise to find a killer is discriminating? Of course this is an extreme example, but you get my point? It's a way to be efficient in what they are doing.

Over here in Holland people are obliged to show papers for identification first time a cop asks for it, but they should only ask for it when there is a reason for suspicioun, I think just like AZ's new law. I'm not sure about why the law was signed a couple of years ago, but I think it had to do with terrorism. They mostly use it to identify people whom could be needed as a witness in case of an accident or fight or such. Further, for example a person involved in a fight can be taken to a police station when he is not carrying ID papers, which makes it easier to investigate what is going on.

airenlow said:

Then neighboring states need to pass similar laws to protect themselves? Force illegals back to Mexico, Canada, Cuba, wherever...

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1- That would require all the states to pass similar laws
2- That won't solve the problem of 11-13 million currently here. Like I said in a previous post, they would rather risk being nicely asked for their documents than going back to where they came from. It is simply unrealistic to think otherwise.

jpccusa said:

Like Brent said, people would need to "get off the teat and show some integrity" in order to have those jobs filled.

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That's a whole different issue whereby the teat also needs to be removed. The bird needs to be shoved from the nest. The hatchling needs to fend for itself. I guarantee, you remove the teat and those jobs will be filled. Period. Or, they'll go somewhere else and it becomes someone else's burden until they also wisen up.

D80

It's not the being asked, but the being caught being illegal they should fear.... people with the right papers are not the target, nor should they be afraid. The goal is to scare the people without the right papers being asked for them with the risk of being caught....