The Majority Supports Arizona

by John Eberhard

I have been amazed by the reaction over the last couple weeks of a small but vocal minority to the recent anti-illegal-immigration bill passed in Arizona.

From the Los Angeles City Council voting to not do business with AZ, to the school system in IL that decided that their sports team would not attend their championship series in AZ, to people insisting that LA Lakers coach Phil Jackson must make an announcement against the bill and demonstrating outside Staples Center, to people rioting and throwing bottles at police in Phoenix – I think everyone who is reacting this way needs to GET A GRIP!

First, everyone might consider actually reading the bill, especially and including Democrats in Washington like Attorney General Eric Holder, who said he might file suit against the bill but in testimony in front of a Congressional committee admitted he had not read the 10 page bill, but only heard things about it on television.

I have read the bill myself. And guess what? It basically says that all government employees in the state of Arizona have to enforce federal immigration law, and if law enforcement personnel are already involved in some law enforcement action with a person and have reason to believe that they may be in the country illegally, that they should ask to see the person’s papers. The law prohibits any county, city or town from passing any laws that prevent law enforcement personnel from applying federal immigration laws. So no cities will be allowed to become “sanctuary” cities (like Los Angeles where I live), where law enforcement personnel are not permitted to ask anyone about their immigration status.

So anyone who is so adamantly against this bill, is basically in favor of illegal immigration. Let’s not sugar-coat it or get into other arguments. If you are against this bill, you are in favor of illegal immigration.

Let’s take a look at what is wrong with illegal immigration:

1. No other country in the world allows unlimited immigration (including Mexico).

1. Since the United States is the most prosperous country on Earth, it is a privilege to move here. It is not a right.

1. One reason we have the right to limit the number of people who immigrate here, is because we want to make sure they assimilate to our culture and way of life. There is, naturally, a limit to how many people could assimilate into a country at any one time.

1. There is a phenomenon that has been observed in some countries, which some smart person has named “Balkanization.” “Balkanize” is defined by the Miriam Webster Online Dictionary as “to break up (as a region or group) into smaller and often hostile units.” The term comes, of course, from the Balkans, the countries occupying the Balkan Peninsula; Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, & Turkey. You may have heard of a lot of fighting and unrest in that region over the past 15 years, based largely on differing customs, languages, ethnic hatreds and so on.

   We have also seen a Balkanization effect in Canada, where the French-speaking people of Quebec have tried several times to secede.

   We are seeing a definite Balkanization in France, caused by large-scale Arabic immigration in recent years, and by the French government foolishly permitting the Arab immigrants to set up isolated enclaves where police aren’t even allowed in. A few years ago this erupted in full-scale riots in Paris.

   Now in America, with massive amounts of illegal immigrants, most from Mexico, we are seeing a true Balkanization effect. The bilingual educational program has allowed the youth of this group to continue to speak Spanish and not to learn English. And how many times have you called some company you deal with and heard “for English, press 1…”? Many companies have worked hard to court the non-assimilating Hispanic population, and in so doing have made it easier for them to be here. Some banks a few years ago were even giving home loans to illegal immigrants.

1. You may recall Prop 187 from 1994 in California. This proposition would have stopped all welfare benefits for illegal immigrants in California. At the time these benefits added up to over $3 billion per year. In the 16 years since then this figure has probably doubled or tripled. Prop 187 was passed by 59% of California voters, but was ruled unconstitutional by one liberal judge. I still don’t get how it is unconstitutional to say that people who come here illegally from some other country, and aren’t US citizens, shouldn’t get free benefits – to the tune of $3 billion per year. But that’s liberal judicial activism for you.

   So in essence, we are being told by liberal judges that we HAVE to give illegal immigrants free welfare benefits (including health care, free education, etc.). Even in California which has been on the verge of bankruptcy for the past five years. So we can’t afford it, the people don’t want it, but we are forced to do it.

1. A large percentage of illegal immigrants are low income and are below the tax paying threshold. So they will pay no taxes, but receive lots of free benefits at taxpayer expense. Several studies have concluded that illegal immigrants are, on average, a significant net loss in terms of money going in and out of government tax coffers.

Good News: The Majority Supports AZ

According to www.rasmussenreports.com, 71% of AZ residents favor the new bill, up from 64% in late April. Nationally, 55% of Americans favor passage of such a law in their state. 68% of Americans oppose boycotts of Arizona over the new law. Only 14% think these boycotts are a good idea (Hear that L.A City Council???).

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of voters believe a police officer should be required to check the immigration status of anyone stopped for a traffic violation or violation of some other law if he suspects the person might be an illegal immigrant.

Fifty-five percent (55%) of Americans say when it comes to addressing the immigration issue, their personal views are closer to those of the political leaders in Arizona rather than those of political leaders in Washington. Just 26% say their views are closest to Washington political leaders.

If you agree with the Arizona law, and especially if you live in Los Angeles, you might consider writing the City Council and the mayor and letting them know how you feel about their voting to boycott Arizona.