Arizona immigration law an invitation to abuse
Show Me Your Papers
By BILL KELLER, NYT
THE Arizona law requiring police to check the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally — a statute tentatively blessed last week by the Supreme Court — is an invitation to abuse. It is all too likely to be used, as the court itself seemed to fear, to intimidate and demean people with the wrong accent or skin tone, thus delivering a get-out-the-humiliated-Hispanic-vote bonus to President Obama. The less likely alternative is that it will be applied more like the random T.S.A. searches at airports, thus infuriating Arizonans across the board.
While we wait for this to play out, let’s turn our attention to another aspect of the so-called “show me your papers” law: Show me WHAT papers? What documents are you supposed to have always on hand to convince police that you are legit?
Welcome to an American paradox. This country, unlike many other developed democracies, does not require a national identification card, because the same electorate that is so afraid America is being overrun by illegal aliens also fears that we are one short step away from becoming a police state.
I’ve suggested before that, as part of any comprehensive reform of our senseless immigration laws, Americans should master their anxieties about a national identification card. The Arizona controversy reinforces my conviction.
(More here.)
By BILL KELLER, NYT
THE Arizona law requiring police to check the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally — a statute tentatively blessed last week by the Supreme Court — is an invitation to abuse. It is all too likely to be used, as the court itself seemed to fear, to intimidate and demean people with the wrong accent or skin tone, thus delivering a get-out-the-humiliated-Hispanic-vote bonus to President Obama. The less likely alternative is that it will be applied more like the random T.S.A. searches at airports, thus infuriating Arizonans across the board.
While we wait for this to play out, let’s turn our attention to another aspect of the so-called “show me your papers” law: Show me WHAT papers? What documents are you supposed to have always on hand to convince police that you are legit?
Welcome to an American paradox. This country, unlike many other developed democracies, does not require a national identification card, because the same electorate that is so afraid America is being overrun by illegal aliens also fears that we are one short step away from becoming a police state.
I’ve suggested before that, as part of any comprehensive reform of our senseless immigration laws, Americans should master their anxieties about a national identification card. The Arizona controversy reinforces my conviction.
(More here.)
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1 Comments:
fear we are one step from becoming a police state? Sir, we already are. When presidents say things like 'i must act where Congress will not' and 'it's the right thing to do' we already ruled, not governed.
The difference is only in the context. A president can make an edict using the phrases 'i must act where Congress will not' to go to war, or ban abortion, or anything really. When a country is ruled by the whims of the rulers, it leaves many citizens with no recourse except to simply ignore the law. And so that's what will happen in places like Arizona. We are now a goverment with a country that rules with a tyranny of laws. There are so many laws that at any moment of the day, citizens are likely breaking the law. That's what anarchy is - a tyranny of laws. Certainly, what's to prevent a president from seeking three terms - the Constitution? Pffft, that's laugh. That document is so completely ignored, the whole document is meaningless, including its amendments. Laws will go ignored so long as this keeps up.
I certainly do. I don't wear my seatbelt, I wear headphones when I drive, I text while driving, I even do not claim cash birthday gifts on my income taxes.
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