The immigration debate has fired up again in the United States in an impressive way: Faced with a lack of national initiative and an increasing fear in the southwest of losing control of the Mexican border, the Republican governor, Jan Brewer, signed the final version of S.B. 1070 on April 30, 2010. The law will enter into force this summer. This law gave rise to a phenomenal scandal across the Atlantic. Barack Obama himself gave his opinion on the matter, declaring that it put into question the tradition of American liberty, and threatens the relationship between citizens and the police. Protests have increased across the country, as have calls for economic boycotts. Mexico even officially advised its citizens to leave Arizona. So how did this law end up deserving not only a presidential rebuff, but also such national and international attention?
An AFP dispatch presented the law by stating that it “strengthened” the legal mechanism against illegal aliens. But the generality of the statement hides an interesting comparison. This law effectively permits any police officer in the state of Arizona to ask for residency papers from any person who might be an illegal alien (the text evokes “reasonable suspicion”) — the estimate of such aliens in Arizona is at around 450,000 people.
The shock that this elicits in America is perfectly understandable. As a nation of immigrants, Americans are particularly sensitive to the issue. The first laws that created a general framework to control immigration date from the start of the 1920s. Before 1921, the country was largely open, even though states each had their own laws and the federal government intervened occasionally — for example, against Asian immigration in 1882. Moreover, the Civil Rights Movement that swept across America forty years later gave the race question an almost untouchable status. Any frontal attack based on racial prejudices is sure to bring about extremely strong reactions, easily calling to mind the discriminatory past of America. The statement is even more important in an America that elected an African-American president who, while a senator for Illinois, was strongly dedicated to fighting discrimination.
In this context, a law like the one adopted by Arizona is explosive. The scandal exists not only with regard to the result, but also with regard to the criteria for verification. Hispanic groups have rightfully highlighted that the law allows ethnic profiling that will result in American citizens of Hispanic origin — and not only illegal aliens — being forcibly detained to have their citizenship verified by the police.
Arizona is the only state to have made this decision. It brings to the fore the inability of the federal government to act on the national level, while surveys indicate regularly that public opinion is in favor of immigration reform. In 2007, in spite of the support of President G.W. Bush, a proposal failed in the Senate. Compromise satisfied no one. The right refused to extend any form of amnesty to illegal aliens — the numbers circulating in the media range from 10 to 12 million people — who have not respected the law. As for the left, it refused security measures at the Mexican border. Thus, the problem remains unanswered.
Amalgamation of Security and Immigration
The legislative setting inherited from 1965 has been continually contested by everyone, yet no new consensus has emerged to replace it. Until recently, Obama did not seem to have strong enough encouragement to act. Health care reform in March and current negotiations on financial regulation and on climate change have left little room for other debates.
Not only are congressional elections coming up, but also, Democrats and Republicans are extremely divided on the issue. In such circumstances, immigration is dealt with from the simplest angle, from which a consensus is the easiest: security. In 2006, Congress adopted a law to build a wall on the Mexican border. And in 2002, at the time of the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the government body responsible for immigration control, the INS, was integrated into this new department, and in so doing, left the Department of Justice. Since then, the amalgamation of security and immigration has been official.
Scandalous? In the United States, without a doubt. But not in Europe and, notably, not in France, where any police officer can ask anyone on the street for their papers at any time. And, traditionally, our department of the interior includes both police management and the control of immigration. It is very revealing to see that the French media is not relaying any of the debate that is currently raging in the United States over immigration. American news, seen from France, is summarized by the oil spill in Louisiana, to be understood as one more catastrophe in this country of excess, and by the difficulties of financial form, to be understood as that those in power are having a hard time fixing all the wrongs of Wall Street.
As is often the case, it is easier to criticize the United States with an implicit innuendo that the situation in Europe is clearly superior. On the other hand, a debate like the one surrounding the law in Arizona remains strangely absent. I cannot help but see this as one more example of the abundance of transatlantic prejudices. Regarding this particular point, the Americans have an extremely healthy debate, illustrative of the democratic vitality of their country in refusing any abusive augmentation of police power. At least this time, America seems to be in a position to teach us a lesson. It is rather saddening to see the French media putting aside information that, by putting the United States in a good light, casts France in a negative one.
The following is an email from an Arizonan…You may be surprised at the truth. You’ll never red it in the MSM.
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Hi all,
Well, we Arizonans are certainly in the news these days. Couldn’t get any media’s attention for years, as we struggled with our myriad problems with the drug wars and illegal immigrant issues became increasingly desperate. But now that we’ve passed an enforcement law, all the networks and night talk show hosts and hollywood types are coming out of the woodwork.
Just to set a few things straight–which you will NOT see or hear in the media:
* As I e-mailed earlier, 72 percent of ALL adult Arizonans support this new law. We are not racist, and we are not bigots. We are in crisis.
* Between 60 and 63 percent (depending on the poll) of legal Hispanics in Arizona support this new law (they are equally offended and endangered by illegal immigration–violence and taxes and compromised schools and closed hospitals know no skin color!) One Hispanic gentleman in Phoenix said he waited 11 years to legally enter the U.S., and said in a T.V. interview, “We are being overrun, and our way of life is being threatened.” No shit!!!!!!!
* Do not believe what you see on the national news about this law. It does NOT give law enforcement the right to pull anyone over because they “look Hispanic.” It does NOT give law enforcement the right to just look at someone and ask for papers. There has to be a “lawful reason” for stopping them in the first place, and THEN and only then, if the officer suspects they may be illegal–based on criteria already used by ICE–they can ask for legal status identification. Do not believe this garbage you hear every day on T.V. It is not a “police state” statute.
* On April 26th evening local Tucson news, news teams from Tucson went down to Nogales Mexico–across the border–and decided to randomly interview the first 6 people they ran into on the neighborhood streets. They promised not to edit, pick and choose, or whatever. Local media is pretty neutral, but perhaps more sympathetic with the protesters. I think they fully expected outrage across the border. Five of the first six Mexican citizens they first encountered and interviewed support this bill. They see no problem with it. They said the U.S. has the right to find and deport illegals of any nationality–it is our country. They said that they have to carry identification papers all the time in Mexico! One gentleman teaches half time in a Nogales high school and half time across the border in a U.S. high school. He said he has been carrying and showing his papers every day for years, including being asked by the non-border Mexican police for identification. He sees no big deal and is embarrassed by the hoopla from Mexicans in the U.S. He said it “makes us all look bad.”
* Five other states have already contacted Arizona lawmakers (Utah, Oklahoma, Iowa among them) to help them draft similar legislation. I think many many states have wanted to do this, for the same reasons we Arizonans did, but were scared silly of appearing what Arizona is being called–racist, bigoted, etc. etc.)
If you look at the demonstrators, notice their general age group–high school and college students mainly. Why them??? For one thing, in Arizona and other states, Hispanics, legal or illegal, pay in-state tuition, regardless of where they are from. Also, there are special set-aside funds reserved for Hispanics (primarily from Latino support organizations), and for non whites in general (general funds). They are getting a much better deal than citizen students–many a free ride. So why wouldn’t they demonstrate, if this bill threatens to deport them? The high school students are all friends. Good for them. But they are just kids insulated from the economic and social realities of the situation. One Mexican high school girl in tears was put on national media (of course), and she said, “Half of everyone in my high school is illegal. Now they are threatening to split us up and maybe deport half of us.” Can you believe this?? She believes that this kind of statement should garner sympathy–and perhaps does, nationally. We think it clarifies an alarming fact of life down here. Arizona is over three billion dollars in debt. Objective estimates suggest that nearly 30 percent of that is due to unreimbursed education of illegal kids. It is a lovely intent. Estimates are that approximately 2/3 of our state deficit is linked to costs of the illegal population. We are broke and desperate!! 13 state parks have permanently closed. Most highway rest stops are shuttered. Our state sales tax is probably going to 7.6 percent this summer. Roads are in disrepair. Three Tucson hospitals have completely closed within the past 5 years. Tucson police and Pima country sheriff’s departments are laying off law enforcement officers during a dramatic increase in violence. It is not fair for the rest of the country to not have to help us pay for this outlay when the federal government won’t seriously lift a finger to stop this crisis. It shouldn’t fall so disproportionately on the few. When each of the states have to divvy up tens of millions of dollars each year to help the border states educate and deal with illegals, then we can also be high-minded about doing good for all God’s children.
I know this sounds like a rant. But watching the national media, day after day, one gets such a distorted view of what the law actually says (it is on the net, by the way), and how the population here and elsewhere really feel about it. It makes us crazy. The protesters get all the media time. Just had to try to present “the other side of the story.”
First, we are not a “country of excess”. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, with most of the GDP in the hands of about 10% to 20% of the population. We do not live like kings & queens.
secondly, what most of you in France take for granted is not guaranteed to citizens in the U.S…I, for instance, have no health insurance. I have been denied the ability to buy it, by the only real “death panels” we have in the States, insurance CEO’s. If I become seriously ill or injured, my only two choices are bankruptcy or death, and as I will not leave my wife destitute, death is the only choice remaining…no French citizen has to make a choice like this, and I admire the way you care for your injured on a nationwide basis, while here we are simply on our own, or fractured into groups.
As for the immigration problem in the U.S., you must not believe that you hear from U.S. news sources, as they are all corporate controlled. The Arizona law does not allow for random stops or searches of anyone who may look Hispanic. It allows for a background check of anyone stopped for a violation of the law, and it simply requires proof of legal status, a green card or visa (which you are already required to carry), or proof of citizenship, which can be nothing more than a driver’s license issued in the U.S.
It’s sad that Arizona feels it has to enact such a measure, but the fault ultimately lies with the federal government, as they obstinately refuse to enforce border security, and have refused to increase the fines & penalties for knowingly hiring an illegal invader to the point where the penalties would constitute a serious deterrent.
As for amnesty for illegals, we have done that at least 3 times in my life, and each time with assurances that the border would be secured if the amnesty were passed…the border has never been secured, and in every instance of amnesty, more illegals pour across the border to take the place of the newly-made citizens. It is simply a scam aimed at the voters.
We don’t care if anyone immigrates to the U.S., in fact, we welcome you…but we are a sovereign country, with the right to refuse citizenship to those with criminal backgrounds, and the right to control our population…and I, for one, do not like the idea of becoming a country so populous that individuals become cheapened & easily replaceable…this idea may be enticing to corporations, but not to the citizenry at large.
Well-written article, but it skates over what I feel is the underlying reason for the uproar, which is the peculiar sensitivity average Americans have about their behavior.
You are correct when you call the USA a nation of excess. The previous commenter objects, and pretends that being on the economic decline demonstrates we are not fond of excess, but the slide into poverty is exactly caused by the excesses allowed to financial corporations in the destructively competitive fight for personal wealth by both officers and stockholders, devil take the hindmost, who include the commenter.
The real excess is the glib American exceptionalism, which may not be supportable in the view of non-Americans, but has never wavered, and is still being exploited even by Obama, who is locked into by his very realistic fear that the country will turn on him in their panic at the inevitable prospect of a large drop in their ENERGY AND MATERIALS standard of living.
Americans have been trained by their runaway advertisers to require excess in order to achieve personal satisfaction with their life, and now they must be retrained to be restrained in their use of energy and materials.
We shall see if it is possible, but it’s the real thing to watch, and the Internet, with its endless mind-teasers, will likely be how America learns to enjoy its mind, instead of endless thrills from travel, speed and bulk in their houses, cars and entertainments. The age of Hummers, McMansions and cross-country trips to the Other Disneyworlds and relatives has to stop. How fast we can achieve this will decide the fate of the world.
An interesting little update. The president of Mexico was being interviewed on Wolf Blitzer (a nationally broadcast interview show) and expressed concern over the Arizona law. In the very same interview, he admitted that visitors to Mexico must present their identification & carry papers which must be presented to authorities on demand. If they are found to be in Mexico illegally, they are deported.
Also, under Mexican law, if you are caught working without the proper papers, you can be arrested & jailed.