Illegal Immigration: Modern Day Slavery

I am sickened to read today that the Obama administration is suing the State of Arizona for its immigration reform law:

Arizona Governor Vows to Fight Any Federal Lawsuit Over Immigration Law

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer expressed outrage Thursday over Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's comments that the Obama administration will sue over Arizona's controversial immigration law -- and Brewer said she's ready for a fight.

Clinton said in an interview with a TV station in Ecuador that the Obama administration "will be bringing" suit against Arizona for its immigration law, though the Justice Department for weeks has 
said that the issue is still under review. 

"What a disappointment," Brewer told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren on Thursday, saying she was shocked the administration would make such an announcement on foreign TV without giving Arizona officials the news first. Her office hadn't heard from the administration as of Thursday evening.

"We are not going to back away from this issue," Brewer said. "We are going to pursue it, we're going to be very aggressive," Brewer said. "We'll meet them in court ... And we will win."

She added: "The population of America agrees with Arizona."

Lately having been so busy with the ending of the school year, I have been doing a slow boil about the Arizona law and the ongoing onslaught of illegal aliens in our country.  Working in Liberal La-La-Land and having conversations with neighbors, all of whom promptly spit out the Liberal talking points about immigration, I've gotten my belly full of the usual B.S. you hear in the MSM: the Arizona law is racist.   This just makes me want to scream!!!!

OK, put on your seatbelts!  This is gonna be a bumpy ride!

Here are my thoughts, for what little they're worth.  But, let me first preface my thoughts by saying I have lived for a while in Mexico.  I am well acquainted with and deeply love Mexico's people and culture, so for any loons out there that want to point the finger of shame at me and scream "RACIST!", take a hike!

1)  The nation's laws should apply equally to all -- to ALL!  My grandparents had to obey the laws when they immigrated here.  I believe what we have here is special treatment for a particular group of people.  The laws are not being enforced for one particular race/ethnic group.  Would that not be bias?

2)  Illegal immigration has essentially resulted in "human trafficking" -- which is modern-day parlance for SLAVERY!  Read what appeared a few weeks ago in Newsweek -- journalist Eve Conant, who sympathizes with the illegals, struggles with the realities of a half million illegal immigrants in Arizona and the detrimental effects the situation has caused over the past decade (from original article "Mexican Standoff" -- emphasis added):

It’s terrifying to live next door to homes filled with human traffickers, drug smugglers, AK-47s, pit bulls, and desperate laborers stuffed 30 to a room, shoes removed to hinder escape. During a month’s reporting with police and other law-enforcement agents in Arizona last year, I met many scared people. One man who lived next to a “drop house” for Mexican workers slept with two guns under his bed, his children not allowed to play in the backyard. The sound of gunshots was not uncommon. “Four years ago this neighborhood was poodles and old ladies,” he said, too frightened to give his name. “Now it’s absolutely insane.” That morning, authorities had raided the drop house. When the neighbor told me how his kids had been evacuated behind riot shields, he began to cry. Others, too, were unhappy: the undocumented workers taken from the house were exhausted, sweaty, and dead quiet as they sat on a curb with their hands cuffed, waiting to be taken away.

Within 24 hours I witnessed another bust, this one prompted by a tip from Tennessee authorities. They reported a threat to kill a kidnap victim, and a ransom demand for $3,500. Sheriff’s deputies went to a pleasant house with a two-car garage. Inside, they found dozens of immigrants crammed into unfurnished bedrooms, the windows boarded from the inside, shoes and belts piled up in the closet. The search also turned up a Taser-like device, a sawed-off shotgun, and two pistols. Another day, I watched the Phoenix police break up a “stash house” filled with guns and hundreds of pounds of marijuana. An hour later they raided a McMansion adorned with hunting trophies and Scarface posters; a white SUV jammed with 300 pounds of marijuana was parked out front. (Sixty percent of all the marijuana that reaches the U.S. transits Arizona.) Again, the house was in a high-end development, nowhere near the border.

Windows boarded up with shoes taken away ... so the workers can't escape!  And, day laborers are not the only types of workers supplied.  Illegal immigration has been linked to prostitution.  (See here, here and here for examples.)  You wonder how many of the prostitutes might have been forced into prostitution.

3)  My theory is that it's racist NOT to stop the human trafficking, because if the illegals were blue-eyed, fair-skinned people, their work and living conditions would not be tolerated.

4)  Arizona's law is not in violation of federal immigration law.   First, click on this link to get a copy of the law for yourself.  

Now, check out Megyn Kelly's analysis of the law (yeah, I know -- she's one of those evil FoxNews people ... but, she has a law degree AND actually took the time to read the legisation):

It took Kelly one hour to read the law, and it's disgusting that AG Eric Holder and Head of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano had not read the law at the time they were criticizing it.  (She also read case law and precedent.  Her legal opinion is that the Arizona law is a lot like the federal law but less problematic.)

Kelly's comparisons: Federal law: officers don't need reasonable suspicion to ask for immigration status.  Under AZ law, they do.  (AZ law has a tougher standard for the cops.)  You could be "harassed" by federal customs agents more easily.  AZ cannot consider race when making a determination of reasonable suspicion.

Brett Baier interviewed one of the law's authors who stated that the Arizona law mirrors federal law:

It seems that President Obama, Mr. Constitutional Law Professor, should have a beef with the federal law and not just Arizona's.

5)  Mexico's immigration policies are far more stringent that U.S. regulations:

Mexico repeatedly has been cited by human rights groups for abusing or turning a blind eye to the abuse of migrants from Central America. Until recently, Mexican law made illegal immigration a criminal offense -- anyone arrested for the violation could be fined, imprisoned for up to two years and deported. Mexican lawmakers changed that in 2008 to make illegal immigration a civil violation like it is in the United States, but their law still reads an awful lot like Arizona's. 

The Mexican law also states that law enforcement officials are "required to demand that foreigners prove their legal presence in the country before attending to any issues."   [source]

To have legal status in Mexico, you better be aware of the following ...

• Have the means to sustain themselves economically;
• Not destined to be burdens on society;
• Of economic and social benefit to society;
• Of good character and have no criminal records; and
• Contributors to the general well being of the nation.
• Authorities have a record of each foreign visitor;
• Foreign visitors do not violate their visa status;
• Foreign visitors are banned from interfering in the country’s internal politics;
• Foreign visitors who enter under false pretenses are imprisoned or deported;
• Foreign visitors violating the terms of their entry are imprisoned or deported;
• Those who aid in illegal immigration will be sent to prison.”  [source]

So, President Felipe Calderón can stick that in his pipe and smoke it!

6) Oh, and while Calderón is puffing away, let's look at some Mexico's shenanigans his country has been up to lately.   In January 2005, Michelle Malkin reported on a "comic book" that the Mexican government was distributing to immigrants with tips for safe passage: 

Looks to me like tacit approval to break the U.S.'s immigration laws.

Then, last month as tensions ran tight between Arizona and Mexico, the tourism board for the state of Sonora printed a rather threatening ad:

Arizona Sheriff Wants Apology From Mexico for Its 'Threatening' Tourism Ad

An Arizona sheriff is calling on Mexican officials to apologize for what he says is a "threatening" advertisement. The ad shows a man wearing camouflage looking through binoculars with the words: "In Sonora we are looking for people from Arizona."

The advertisement, which ran Friday in the Arizona Republic, caught the eye of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who posted the VisitMexico.com/GoToSonora.com spot on his Twitter page and asked citizens to call Mexican Tourism Board offices for clarification.
...


Javier Tapia, coordinator of the Tourism Promotion Commission of Sonora, said the second version of the advertisement, which ran on Saturday, features the words "who want to have a great time" following the initial line "In Sonora we are looking for people from Arizona." A scene of beachgoers also can be seen in the reflection of the binocular lenses, an element that did not appear in the original "teaser" advertisement.

Tapia insisted neither the first nor second versions of the ad were intended as a threat.

"We want to be very aggressive in our push, but we're not trying to scare anybody," he told FoxNews.com. "We're looking for the opposite -- we want everyone to feel very welcome here in Sonora."

Feel welcome.  Yeah, sure.

And, if that tourism ad doesn't leave you feeling warm and fuzzy, let's look at two items related to the "entertainment industry."  First, there's a variation on Dora the Explorer that's been making the rounds:

Several doctored pictures of Dora are circulating widely in the aftermath of Arizona's controversial new immigration law.

They may seem harmless or even tasteless. But experts say the pictures and the rhetoric surrounding them reveal some Americans' attitudes about race, immigrants and where the immigration reform debate may be headed.

Many of the Dora images assume the Latina character is an illegal immigrant from Mexico.  But representatives from Nickelodeon have declined to comment on Dora's background, and her place of birth or citizenship have never been clear.  [source]

And then there's the coming film "Machete":

An online trailer for the film "Machete," released on Cinco de Mayo (and embedded below the fold), begins with the title character saying he has a "special message...to Arizona!" That special message, as the New York Post writes, seems to be "They just f---ed with the wrong Mexican."  [source]

Now, I haven't seen an update on this, but last month Lachlan Markay of Newsbusters.org was reporting that taxpayers might be chipping in some funds for this feel-good film.  


Why not?  Taxpayers are footing a lot of the immigration bill already.

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!  (a cleansing breath there) ... Now I feel better having gotten that off my chest!

¡Híjole!  ¡Este lío está volviéndome loquísima!