Pro-Arizona Immigration Law Event Draws Thousands of Supporters

[FrankRep]

During the week leading up to the June 5 rally, websites from Orange County to Maine were conjecturing about sending local representatives as supporters, and how to organize in time. At stake was participation in an Arizona rally near the State Capitol in Phoenix, to show support for Gov. Jan Brewer and her embattled efforts to enforce control of the illegal immigration problem currently swamping them. By Mary McHugh


Pro-AZ Immigration Law Event Draws Thousands (http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/politics/3717-saturday-pro-az-immigration-law-event-draws-thousands)


Mary McHugh | The New American (http://www.thenewamerican.com/)
Monday, 07 June 2010


During the week leading up to the June 5 rally, websites from Orange County to Maine were conjecturing about sending local representatives as supporters and how to organize in time. At stake was participation in an Arizona rally near the State Capitol in Phoenix, to show support for Gov. Jan Brewer and her embattled efforts to enforce control of the illegal immigration problem currently swamping them. On Saturday, those thousands attending despite the 105-degree heat were not disappointed.

Said Daniel Smeriglio one of the organizers, “It’s a grassroots effort that really took off.” No-nonsense sheriff of Maricopa County, Joe Arpaio, told the crowd, “We’ll put up tents from here to Mexico” — a reference to his famous Tent City, a section of the county jail where surplus military tents are used to house inmates. Sheriff Arpaio praised Arizona lawmakers for their efforts against illegal immigration and reiterated he will lock up as many such immigrants as his deputies can arrest.

The chant, “Joe, Joe, Joe” was heard from the crowd, and one man yelled, “We’ve got your back, Joe!”

Many rally participants in downtown Phoenix waved American flags, and some came with signs, one of which read, “What part of illegal don’t they understand?” At the Capitol, a procession of hundreds of motorcycle riders circled to start the event.

The author of the now-famous Senate Bill 1070, GOP State Sen. Russell Pearce of Mesa, also spoke. He was joined by former Republican congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado, a longtime leader in the fight against illegal immigration.

There have been a few rallies, both pro and con, since late April when Senate Bill 1070 passed. The law is set to go into effect on July 29.

Accused of being based on racial profiling that would target Hispanics especially, the law requires that should police have to stop people regarding traffic and motor vehicle issues, or other possible legal violations, officers can at that time also ask those detained about their immigration status if there is “reasonable suspicion” that they are not legal citizens. This law is only serves to enforce a federal law already on the books, which the federal government has generally neglected to enforce. Sen. Bill 1070 would also make it a state crime to be in the country illegally or to impede traffic while hiring day laborers, regardless of the worker's immigration status. It also becomes a crime for illegal immigrants to solicit work.

Of the many illegal aliens pouring over the borders of the southwestern states, many are not Mexican; some — from a host of other nations — have possible terrorist ties. With a change of clothes and keeping a low profile, such illegals are blending into the crowd and into our country.

Americans in the southwest are concerned by the resulting local rising crime rate and threats against themselves and their personal property. Rob Krentz and his dog were found shot in late March as he was out checking fence on his ranch. A 58-year-old Cochise County, Arizona, cattle farmer whose family has run the Krentz Ranch for 100 years, he was gunned down in what was thought to be a drug smuggling event. He had been fighting the border problem for years, yet was known to give food and water to hungry and thirsty illegals. There are no resulting arrests as yet; tracks from the scene went back into Mexico. It was stated by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' office at the time that she might ask President Obama to place military units in the besieged area. The Tuscon Weekly commented on her efforts as opposed to those of former Rep. Jim Kolbe and Sen. John McCain, saying:



…the practical impact of Giffords’ actions might be small, but at least she is paying attention. [A] source said, “Kolbe laughed at us when we complained, and McCain worries about getting his patent leather shoes dirty when he’s down here.”


Even health issues resulting from this immigration are alarming with, for example, tuberculosis, which had almost been eradicated in the U.S., undergoing an upswing here due to its being brought into the country through the illegal population. Not infrequently, those infected come to the emergency rooms of U.S. hospitals for free treatment of their drug-resistant tubercular type.

The hubris of Mexicans in particular, upset that Americans want to protect their borders, is all but palpable considering that Mexico has some of the strongest alien laws and requirements in the world to control outsiders entering there. And the voice of legal Hispanic Americans who actually support the Arizona immigration law is, of course, not given a hearing. But in the words of one blogger to the Los Angeles Times on the spirit of the fight against illegals in general, and its Arizona battle in particular, “For every person who boycotts Arizona, there will be at least 3 who will vacation there in support of Arizona.”

A state police board has been ordered by Governor Jan Brewer to prepare training standards to prevent racial profiling in enforcing the law.


SOURCE:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/politics/3717-saturday-pro-az-immigration-law-event-draws-thousands

[MelissaWV]

Both sides, as usual, are looking moronic on this.

Instead of being impartial and taking a look at the law, then deciding which parts are actually unconstitutional and which parts are reasonable and can be enforced without undue hardship... people have taken the opportunity to assert their "Mexican pride" and talk about entitlement and racism and a bunch of other bunk.

On the other side, the "for every person that boycotts, three will vacation in Arizona in support of this law" statement is silly. The economy is in shambles. I don't know anyone who's from a far away state who can afford to say "Hey, I like that immigration law in Arizona. Change of plans; we are going there on vacation." Then again, perhaps this is meant to ridicule the "boycott," which doesn't really appear to have legs. The only reason I can see to avoid Arizona is to avoid being potentially caught up by these laws, and they aren't in effect yet.

The notion that boycotting Arizona would work just makes me facepalm. Right now, our money (regardless of what state you are in) is going to fund things in other states. I'm paying for public school in California, and some worker's salary in Wisconsin, and welfare for someone in Michigan. Let's pretend for a moment that SO many people hate this law that no one visits Arizona at all this year. Let's also pretend that makes the state go utterly bankrupt. What happens? The Government bails them out. This isn't a way to win anything. It's avoiding the problem altogether.

I wish I were confident that everyone at the rally had read and understood the law, but I'm not. I'm also unconvinced that La Raza and its minions have read and understood the law, and I'm certainly not convinced that either the pro or con group knows enough about the Constitution to consider what the implications of each provision are.

This is still going to snowball into something unattractive and very difficult to reverse, and it'll spread, and those who are blindly for or against it will not notice what's really going on.

[Zippyjuan]

Of the many illegal aliens pouring over the borders of the southwestern states,


Americans in the southwest are concerned by the resulting local rising crime rate and threats against themselves and their personal property

Arizona is being "swamped"- meanwhile the number of illegal aliens in the country has decreased nearly 20% over the last two years http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/illegal-immigration-economy-border-control/story?id=9820177
and crime has been falling- not rising- in Arizona.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/29/arizona.immigration.crime/index.html

Crime stats test rationale behind Arizona immigration law
By Mariano Castillo, CNN
April 29, 2010 10:42 p.m. EDT
Sheriff Joe Arpaio said illegal immigrants' departure from Maricopa County is a "good indicator" of success.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
FBI statistics: Violent crimes reported declined by nearly 1,500 over four years

Reported property crimes also fell, by about 8,000, between 2005 and 2008

CNN Fact Check: Kidnapping is up in Phoenix, but murderers' status can't be proven

Arizona immigration trends murky, largely due to declining border apprehensions

(CNN) -- High levels of illegal immigration and crimes committed by unauthorized immigrants are among the key rationales cited by some supporters of a tough new immigration law in Arizona.

"Border violence and crime due to illegal immigration are critically important issues to the people of our state," Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said at the signing of the controversial bill, SB 1070. "There is no higher priority than protecting the citizens of Arizona. We cannot sacrifice our safety to the murderous greed of the drug cartels. We cannot stand idly by as drop houses, kidnappings and violence compromise our quality of life."

Yet, a look at statistics from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency and the FBI indicate that both the number of illegal crossers and violent crime in general have actually decreased in the past several years.

According to FBI statistics, violent crimes reported in Arizona dropped by nearly 1,500 reported incidents between 2005 and 2008. Reported property crimes also fell, from about 287,000 reported incidents to 279,000 in the same period. These decreases are accentuated by the fact that Arizona's population grew by 600,000 between 2005 and 2008.

According to the nonpartisan Immigration Policy Institute, proponents of the bill "overlook two salient points: Crime rates have already been falling in Arizona for years despite the presence of unauthorized immigrants, and a century's worth of research has demonstrated that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes or be behind bars than the native-born."

Backers of the bill maintain that crime is a key reason for the necessity of the tough immigration law.

Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce this week told CNN's Tony Harris that half the murders in Phoenix are committed by unauthorized immigrants and that the city is the second in the world in kidnappings.

A CNN Fact Check found that the senator's claim about the murders in Phoenix cannot be proven, but he did have police statistics to back up his claims of the city's high number of kidnappings, although its exact standing in the world is not clear.

In Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, Sheriff Joe Arpaio has long been an advocate of tough measures against illegal immigration. His officers already check the immigration status of people they detain for other crimes, he said.

"We've been doing it for a long time, but this [law] gives us just a little more authority," Arpaio told CNN.

One way that Arpaio says he measures his success is that he hears that immigrants who entered the country illegally are leaving his county.

"It's a good indicator," he said.

Statewide illegal immigration trends are harder to gauge.

One aspect of it is the number of apprehensions of unauthorized immigrants made by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency. Since a peak in 2000 of more than 600,000 illegal crossers apprehended, the number fell to 241,000 in 2009, Tucson Sector Public Affairs Officer Mario Escalante told CNN.

"We've seen a steady decline," he said.

Intelligence-driven operations have increased the effectiveness of the Border Patrol's efforts, he added.

Meanwhile, the cartel violence that has gripped Mexico for the most part has remained there, he said.

Human and drug smugglers are being "more aggressive because we're being successful," Escalante said, "But we've been lucky not to see that type of [violence] spill over here."


But I guess we have to have somebody to blame for things. We can't use the communists anymore.

[Fredom101]

This is ridiculous.
They are asking for more, bigger government, they're being duped. Illegal aliens is not the problem, it's the welfare/warfare state. The more people clamor for "beefed up borders", the more incentive the PTB will have to keep the welfare flowing. Afterall, the military and the bureaucrats are keeping us safe!

[silentshout]

I agree with Fredom101 and others. People are scapegoating and asking for more government, rather than fighting to stop the welfare (and warfare) state that is bankrupting all of us! If no services were freely given to them, who cares who would come? I think this hysteria is fueled, at least in my local area, by people who need someone to blame for their poor choices during the recent bubble economies.

[Zippyjuan]

Perhaps ironically. the push for tougher immigration laws in Arizona could have a very negative impact on the state economy.
http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2010/05/31/daily26.html


That rhetoric worries economic developers, tourism officials and others who want to attract high-wage jobs to the state. They say it sends a negative message that could dissuade visitors, skilled workers and companies from coming to the state.

“Any kind of negative publicity hurts Arizona as it competes for new business locates and the jobs and tax revenues they represent, especially in the economic climate we live in today,” said Rock Rickert, chairman of the Arizona Association for Economic Development. “Indirectly, these same things – jobs and taxes – are adversely affected when tourism is negatively impacted because Arizona is portrayed as a dangerous, inhospitable, or backward place to visit.” Rickert stressed he isn’t talking behalf of AAED, a statewide association promoting economic development and business attraction, but on his own.



Read more: Stats contradict immigration rhetoric on crime - Phoenix Business Journal


And the concern about kidnapping is not US citizens being kidnapped either (one report claimed that Phoenix was the #2 kidnapping capital in the world- second only to Mexico City but no such stats on cities can be found to make any comparisons).



The exception to that trend is kidnapping, which is at a high level in Phoenix because of human smugglers who detain illegal immigrants in drop houses asking for extra money. Phoenix has had 1,000 kidnapping reports the last three years, according to various sources. Many other crimes against undocumented immigrants, including sexual assaults against women, often go unreported

Read more: Stats contradict immigration rhetoric on crime - Phoenix Business Journal


The "surge" in crime "innundating the citizens of Arizona", besides falling over the last several years, only has Phoenix barely making the Top 75 worst cities in the US in terms of crime- hardly the den of chaos and crime some portray it as to promote their agendas.



Still, much of the crime related to drug and human smuggling does not impact tourists or law-abiding Arizonans. The Phoenix area ranked as the 74th worst metro area for crime in 2009, according to CQ Press. New Orleans, Miami, Memphis and Las Vegas are among the top cities for crime. Tucson was 29th worst and Yuma 203 worst out of 332 U.S. metros.

Thunderbird School of Global Management President Angel Cabrera and Greater Phoenix Economic Council CEO Barry Broome also are concerned about the focus on crime related to immigration flap. The new law gives police greater authority to question and detain suspected illegal immigrants.

GPEC, Thunderbird and some other business and community leaders want to launch efforts to combat such negative images propelled by the law.

Cabrera said Brewer and others are creating an “apocalyptic view” of Arizona that will discourage students from studying here, tourism and high-wage job growth. “That’s not helpful,” Cabrera said.



Read more: Stats contradict immigration rhetoric on crime - Phoenix Business Journal

[Pete Kay]

This is ridiculous.
They are asking for more, bigger government, they're being duped. Illegal aliens is not the problem, it's the welfare/warfare state. The more people clamor for "beefed up borders", the more incentive the PTB will have to keep the welfare flowing. Afterall, the military and the bureaucrats are keeping us safe!

Well, the federal government isn't enforcing immigration laws so they've forced the issue into the state's hands. Arizona's solution is not ideal, but they are trying to take a stand against an issue that has caused them serious problems. And since individuals can't arrest illegals, the state has to.