I agree with this. I might be completely wrong in this situation, but from my personal experience, any time the police seem to get new powers that could hypothetically be abused, it rarely happens because it is not worth the police officer's time. There will be a few cases of abuse by a racist cop or two but I am guessing this law will not have a much impact in stopping illegal immigration or lead to increase of police abuse from racial profiling.

Laws like this tend to have other, more logical reasons, behind it. But, from an opposition standpoint, a good argument I've heard is that with the lack of funding to Arizona's police officers, this will probably not do much because of a lack of training and other things.

BTW, there are roadblocks between cities checking papers. There are Border Patrol check stations; there's one between here and Albuquerque, for instance. Everyone must stop and be inspected. They check for drugs, for terrorist activities, and for human trafficking (I assume--don't know exactly what their mandate is).

No, they never check my papers, because I'm a middle aged white woman.

furthermore, there are "roving patrols grabbing brown people." What do you think the Border Patrol does?

caveat: I live in Texas, not Arizona.

Why do percentages matter? Gotta get them all.

Thirded.

I was pretty impressed by it as well.

Really? If we solved, hypothetically 90% of this problem you'd still be dissatisfied? :eyebrow:

"Controlling" the borders is fine, and worthwhile. Compassion showed, yes, even to illegals, who are almost always between a rock and a hard place, and their families, who are often legal, is essential.

This is more than an abstract political question to me. It directly affects 100% of the people around me. My life has been intimately entwined with Mexico, with Mexicans, with Mexican Americans forever. I'm a Western girl, brought up in the areas of the US that used to belong to Spain. I've visited Mexico since I was very small, I speak Spanish. My parents sponsored entire families to get their green cards and subsequent citizenship. My parents retired in Mexico, I went to college there, I fell in love with a Mexican and had a child with him who had dual citizenship until she was 21. I'm about as Mexican as I can get without actually being one. So, yeah--I'm empathetic to the problem.

Presently, I am seeing families torn apart, and people fleeing from violence. I am seeing the complex, and completely intertwined relationships--business, economic, social, and familial that form across the border. I don't particularly want illegal aliens here, but I decry the simplistic approach of just "securing the borders" or "sending them all back to where they came from."

Am I for "control" of the border? Am I for a better immigration scheme? Sure! But I urge everyone to consider that no single phrase or simple approach is sensible to apply to this very difficult and heartrending problem.

Add me to this growing list!

Good Gawd--we need to assign a special task force to this problem ASAP: we need a better catchphrase!!!1

We agree.

That was obvious from your first post. You have a perspective that is very different than mine. Thats one of the things I love about interacting here. The diversity.
BUT - and yes thats a big butt. Something has to be done. We cannot just grant them all immunity. Nor can we just send them all back.
We have to get a handle on the vast numbers of them coming here illegally. Until that takes place, there are no real solutions.
One of the positives I see out of this law is that it has brought this back to the forefront and may force the current administration to address the problem. Unfortunately, I think it will be more of a politically motivated policy.
AGREED!

(happy)

Don't forget it's not just Mexicans. Mexico is the highway into the US for people from all over Central and South America.

You're right, it would be more racially sensitive and politically correct to use the inclusive term "brown people" in this case.

I can get pretty brown in the summer. I object!