While I am somewhat loath to even bring up a SB 1070 discussion, a statement on the injunction from Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu is too good not to share. And I may as well add my two pesos while I’m at it.
Unlike many who automatically jumped to one side of the issue or the other when SB 1070 was first introduced, I sat idle on the fence.
Then a number of factors began to change my mind and push me off the fence and onto one side.
One was reports of illegals fleeing Arizona, even before the measure became law.
Another was watching folks suddenly start obeying other laws. A case in point was a car with a Mexico license plate that was about to blast out of the left turn lane to cut off all traffic at an intersection of Miracle Mile – until he saw a cop car pulling into the intersection across from him.
The driver then instead stayed in the lane and turned left. Sure, he may have just made an illegal turn farther down the road and sure, it was only a minor traffic violation, but at least he didn’t break the law for a moment or two.
A third were the sob stories. My mom mentioned one that aired in Michigan about the sad fate of one illegal alien and his family who had been living in Arizona for years. The brood had to sadly uproot – to move to a different state. Never mind leaving the country or trying to get legal status to stay here – he just went on to live illegally somewhere else. Oh, the inhumanity.
The fourth, and perhaps most decisive factor, was the uproar against the measure. I’ll agree SB 1070 first struck me has having some murky issues, but after attending the AzPOST training session with Pima County Sheriff Department deputies, rereading the text 62 times to make sure I didn’t miss any hidden clauses that said racial profiling was OK, and hearing how the law would be enforced, I had confidence all hell would not break loose.
Besides, receiving gads of press releases against the measure crying, “NO ONE IS ILLEGAL,” and seeing all those protests planned, was more than enough to push anyone off the fence.
It’s best to be on the opposite side of such anger, faulty arguments, ridiculous statements and misplaced sympathy.
If people really wanted to support illegal aliens, as folks like reader AZMouse have pointed out, why don’t they help them obtain legal status rather than yell and scream in the streets?
Then I read Babeu’s statement and I had to chime in, even though the headache from my stolen debit card has barely subsided and I suspect such a post will bring a new one.
Statement Regarding SB1070 Decision from Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu
Incredibly, even though there is not one person who can legitimately claim to be harmed by a law that has not even taken effect, the result of an injunction is de facto amnesty through non-enforcement of laws against illegal immigration.
The federal government refuses to secure the border and leaves it to states like Arizona to bear the costs of its inaction. Yet, when we try to do the job they won’t do, in a manner consistent with federal law, they stop us. You couldn’t make up something this ridiculous.
It’s a sad day in America when our own president has directed his attorney general to provide terrorist Miranda rights, yet fights to deny law enforcement the very tools needed to determine if an illegal is in America legally. Why has the President not come to Arizona to personally inspect the threat that our citizens face?
This is our most serious public safety issue and a national security threat to America. President Obama seems to have won the initial legal battle on the basis of the supremacy clause, saying it is inherently his job to enforce immigration law. We in Arizona could not agree more that is it his job and we demand that he do his job and protect our state, rather that continuing to fight us in court.
Go, Babeu, go!
What do you think?
Are you still on the fence about SB 1070 or have you jumped to one side or the other?
Do you agree with Babeu’s statement? Why or why not?
