Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin
RC, I haven't been to Boston, MA, but do you guys really have an illegal problem up there? This is an issue for which many of the negative aspects do not receive media coverage except through the unreliable right-wing fringe media. Here in Oklahoma, the problem isn't so bad. I deal with illegals, they're good folks, mostly pay payroll taxes under a fake SSN and above all and most importantly, they pay their attorney's fees.... every damn dime. Never had a bad experience. I understand that back home, attorneys can have them thrown in prison for failure to pay their fees, so that might be a cultural thing (wouldn't that be nice?).
At any rate, as you move South, the violence, drugs and kidnapping problems grow much, much worse. Maricopa County is pretty much an immigration war zone. Phoenix leads the world in the number of kidnappings per capita. The hospitals and social service programs are stretched thin, and no, I really doubt there are enough payroll taxes coming in from illegals to cover those expenses.
To reduce this issue to a racial/racist issue is maybe partially accurate, but it ain't the whole enchilada.
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1 - I haven't lived in Boston in years, and my current home state's per capita undocumented population is pretty much on par with OK's, so we're on the same page there (for the record,
MA has a higher illegal population than OK per capita - doesn't change anything, but an interesting example of confirmation biases ... I had no idea). Our experiences are pretty similar.
2 - When was the last time you were actually in Maricopa County? I wouldn't categorize it as a "war zone" from my experience (we have a main office in Phoenix), although there are significant drug trafficking and other crime issues (kidnappings are primarily between illegals or the result of drug deals, from my understanding). It's bad, but not exactly on the streets in the same way as in Juarez, for example (which is drug-related anyway).
Here's the problem though: this bill does absolutely nothing, at least on face, to address the crime problems associated with illegals. So illegals who are pulled over will be deported? Is this actually a substantive or functional change? Is it one "worth" the potential rights violations? I would say it's a resounding "no" - I just don't see it working in a way that functionally and significantly reduces crime.
So now, you're instituting an iffy law that will likely be expensive to enforce, yet does absolutely nothing to stem the tide of illegals. The only thing that will stem the tide is making it preferable to enter legally rather than illegally - this law is a major step in the wrong direction.
It really is a 2010 War on Drugs.
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