Good evening, Netizens...

No matter which side of the political equation you support regarding the new Arizona State law regarding illegal immigrants in that state the new law signed by Arizona State Governor Jan Brewer leaves a great deal to be desired, and that is putting it mildly.

On one hand, you have the virtual army of illegal Mexican immigrants, drug dealers, felons and assorted fiends all moving across the border surreptitiously; some 460,000 illegals live in the state, according to the state government. Despite the state's lackluster attempts at slowing this flood of humanity, it still costs state taxpayers millions each year. That doesn't include the welfare roles, criminal enterprises, health care and education costs.

On the other hand, you have the absurdity of the new law itself. Under that law, any person with brown skin can be pulled over by law enforcement at any time and forced to prove they are in the United States legally. It also requires local police officers to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are illegal immigrants; allows lawsuits against government agencies that hinder enforcement of immigration laws; and makes it illegal to hire illegal immigrants for day labor or knowingly transport them.

Perhaps the strangest, most absurd claim made about the new law is that the State of Arizona's government assertion they will avoid racism and police will not use racial profiling in how and when they make arrests. Okay, you're brown, Hispanic; you're a suspect.

I never forgot an incident that took place approximately 30 years ago in my life. I had just driven across the New Mexico-Arizona state line in a near-blizzard when I encountered a car stranded in the ditch. Simply because at that hour of the night, just before dawn, with the frigid temperature of the high desert, I stopped to see if they needed help. I was surprised to discover all four occupants were illegal migrant workers heading north in search of jobs, while in the back seat a woman was in labor, her pains coming in three minute segments. My Spanish at that time was none too good, but we somehow managed to attach a heavy chain on the back of the car and I pulled it out of the snow bank, back onto the road. The mother gave birth there, beside the road, and thus her newborn son was a legal US citizen. By the time the sun rose they were already back on the road, heading north in search of the American dream, as if nothing happened.

Few people who live outside the Southwest United States have any concept of life in the desert, nor of the cultures that have learned to migrate across it and survive there. It is always a harsh land, arrogant in how it controls the lives of all that attempt to exist there. History teaches us with its unflinching eye that long before the white race claimed this strange land of cactus and sand, it was owned and tamed by the same brown people whom we now tell not to enter illegally.

While the new law is absurd, the people of Arizona can no longer tolerate the massive social and criminal problems illegal immigrants create.

Dave

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