Arizona Immigrant Law and Protecting People with Rights

By Profesor Martin Danenberg "El Quijote del GED"   This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it www.ahorre.com/ged

The focus should not be on police action. The focus should be on the rights of all people that have to be respected until the Washington fixes the problem with the correct input from people all across the United States. "United we stand, divided we fall" we are told and Arizona is dividing us and it shall fall because it will fail. I cannot see how the actions will help in the long term. Elected officials have let down the American system that has developed and the rights of all people have to be defended and protected. I would suggest that the elected officials get to work doing the right thing everywhere. We may not like court decisions on rights and there will be many more decisions people will not like in the future, but we must accept the decisions of our courts and our highest court. That is what we have all fought so hard for to maintain and we must never forget it. Protections apply even to the undocumented immigrants.

This article will be going to the legislature of Arizona. Those men and women must repeal the law immediately. It is un-American as people are saying. It was poorly thought out and Arizona state elected and appointed officials should be telling its population that "undocumented immigrants" have rights. Yes they can be deported, as well, but they do have rights. Call them "illegal immigrants" if you wish, but they do have rights that have to be respected. Arizona's officials should go on record today and all week long and from now on, telling the people that the rights of undocumented immigrants must be respected and this is the law.

America does not get it, although a majority of people polled in Arizona feels that there will be abuses by police and authorities, over 70 percent polled support the law. I thank the majority for recognizing there will be abuses and not just the abuses that they are thinking about. Let me begin. Immigrants in New York and other states will definitely want to stay away from Arizona, because they can be arrested. All people who are not carrying an ID can be in the same boat. Among the undocumented immigrants are people who have obtained a tax ID, people who are in colleges and other institutions of higher learning who have paid tuition, people fighting cases related to not being paid proper wages and cases of workmen's compensation, and people with other rights including fighting legally for legal immigrant status through the courts. It appears that this is a dark moment for humanity, recalling the stronghold of the segregated states when segregation did not exist in other states. Barry Goldwater was from Arizona and it was told to America "In Your Heart You Know He's Right" on the issues like segregation. Even though this law may not be racial, its effect is to create a much greater racial divide because of immigrants sneaking across the Mexican border.

The Arizona Law opens that state up for lots of legal liabilities that it cannot afford to pay. This truly amazes me in thinking about the "Tea Party" movement and its support for tax reductions. Normally these very same tax payers and conservatives are reminding the general public about the high taxes their children are going to pay by big government. Well hidden into this law is a potential for big government that the authors did not think out clearly. Arizona courts will soon be filled with civil rights and other civil cases that the people will end up paying for. The high cost of locking up over 400,000 undocumented immigrants will require cuts in all services as the mounting overtime occurs in law enforcement. Arizona will truly become a police state then and few people will want to even live there, if they really are true Americans in spirit. I want to say that we do not want violence and anyone to be killed and it is unfortunate that few great solutions have been presented by the current government of Arizona or any state or the government of the United States.

I call upon the elected officials of Arizona to network with me to make things better in different ways. I feel we have to sit at the table with the Mexican government and the governments of Central America, bringing new hope to the people in that part of the world. Let us effect changes in education together. I also call upon all Hispanic organizations fighting for Hispanic peoples to join with me in this movement to correct the mistakes of the past. I call upon Reverend Al Sharpton and other civil rights' leaders to do their share to correct the mistakes of the past. When people are armed with the correct information, they really have an opportunity to change their minds and attitudes.

LUIS GUTIERREZ, D-IL, CONGRESSIONAL HISPANIC CAUCUS: The lunacy of rounding up people because they look a certain way or are suspected of being in violation of immigration statutes can only lead to one thing — violations of people's basic, fundamental civil rights  — profiling. President Barack Obama has called the law a mistake and it is a mistake largely because of the thinking of the people. It is Arizona that has created the law and its people who are supporting the law. Yes we know that it is up to the federal government to create laws like the one in Arizona or more liberal laws if it chooses to do so. Short of action by Washington, D.C., Congressmen Gutierrez and President Obama must make it "crystal clear- a term taken from President Richard Nixon that those rights listed above and maybe hundreds of other rights not even listed above must be respected and not restricted by the State of Arizona.

MARTIN N. DANENBERG
7 BLAZER DRIVE
ISLANDIA, NEW YORK 11749
631-348-1341
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