[Newsbot]

Title: Texas Gov: Arizona Immigration Law 'Not Right' for Texas
Category: Political
Posted By: tritium
Date: 2010-05-02 10:47:24

[tritium]

That's why TEXAS RULES!!!!

[MacDonaill]

As an ex-Texan, I must say that this brief moment of intelligent decision-making surprises me from Perry. The man's an idiot that almost no one likes, even those in his own party. Last year someone even set fire to Governor's Mansion in Austin. They never did find the culprit.

The Arizona law goes too far. Everyone would basically have to carry a passport on him at all times, or risk arrest. Also, we all know that no white English-speaker would ever be asked to prove his citizenship, and that only brown folks would ever have to produce this kind of proof.

In any case

[xerxes]

You know a law is bad when even Texas doesn't think it's a good idea, and that's saying a lot.

[Dragom]

MacDonaill MacDonaill:

As an ex-Texan, I must say that this brief moment of intelligent decision-making surprises me from Perry. The man's an idiot that almost no one likes, even those in his own party. Last year someone even set fire to Governor's Mansion in Austin. They never did find the culprit.

The Arizona law goes too far. Everyone would basically have to carry a passport on him at all times, or risk arrest. Also, we all know that no white English-speaker would ever be asked to prove his citizenship, and that only brown folks would ever have to produce this kind of proof.

In any case

So all brown and overly tanned Americans would have to carry a passport in their own country?

Can't they just wear yellow stars instead?

Maybe a little bar code tattoo so the police don't have to worry about lost papers or forged documents? Just run a price checker over them.

[MacDonaill]

Dragom Dragom:

MacDonaill MacDonaill:

As an ex-Texan, I must say that this brief moment of intelligent decision-making surprises me from Perry. The man's an idiot that almost no one likes, even those in his own party. Last year someone even set fire to Governor's Mansion in Austin. They never did find the culprit.

The Arizona law goes too far. Everyone would basically have to carry a passport on him at all times, or risk arrest. Also, we all know that no white English-speaker would ever be asked to prove his citizenship, and that only brown folks would ever have to produce this kind of proof.

In any case

So all brown and overly tanned Americans would have to carry a passport in their own country?

Can't they just wear yellow stars instead?

Maybe a little bar code tattoo so the police don't have to worry about lost papers or forged documents? Just run a price checker over them.

Precisely. Too far.

[Public_Domain]

[Pseudonym]

The article doesn't list any particular thoughts that Perry has about specific provisions of the bill, just that he thinks it wouldn't fit Texas well. I would hesitate to jump on this one without more detail. I think many would agree with the sentiment that the failures in federal policies are encouraging the states to take their own measures though.

[xerxes]

I'm starting to wonder if this is whe true purpose of the bill in Arizona. They knew that is was going to be struck down in courts but the mere passing of it has spurred the federal and other state governments into action that they likely would have put off for another day.

[Pseudonym]

From my side of the aisle I have been hearing how they structured the law to follow Supreme Court precedents, which define "reasonable cause" and other such legalese. It will be interesting to see how this patterns out.

[xerxes]

To be sure, it's a deliberately vague term and that's the problem. What would make a police officer reasonably suspicious about a person's citiznship status? Apart from skin colour, I doubt there's anything else.

[Pseudonym]

That's one point of confusion that I hope gets cleared up. "Reasonable cause" is not actually that vague of a term for a law. It requires clarification by the courts for particular situations (such as for this Arizona law), but is generally pretty well outlined in the legal system. I am of the opinion that reasonable cause for immigration arrests should be defined more strictly to avoid the kinds of problems that people seem to keep anticipating.

So for example, I would think:
-being caught trespassing on private property
-refusal to provide a drivers' license at a traffic stop
-distribution of illegal substances
-driving with expired tags
-participation in gang violence
-failure to provide proof of insurance
might be accounted as reasonable causes for an immigration check. Don't take any of those too seriously though. I'm no lawyer, and these are just initial impressions.

Anyway, that's all just to say that "reasonable cause" is not just a crapshoot, it is defined and refined by the judiciary, and I don't think racial discrimination is the only way one could justify checking an individuals immigration status.

[rickc]

xerxes xerxes:

To be sure, it's a deliberately vague term and that's the problem. What would make a police officer reasonably suspicious about a person's citiznship status? Apart from skin colour, I doubt there's anything else.

How about the fact that they don't speak a word of English? If they were born and raised in the U.S. then they should speak English.To become a natrualized citizen of the U.S. you have to demonstrate a profiency of the English language.If someone is in the States on a green card,they are required by law to carry thier green card on them at all times.If someone is visiting the States they have to have a passport,NEXUS,visa. 78% of the illegal immigrants in the States come from Latin America.If you are a Spanish speaking adult in the States,you fit into one of these catagories.Tourist,show your passport.Permanent resident,show your green card.Citizen,speak some English.

[xerxes]

Not necessarily. I work with some people who have been in Canada for well over a decade or two and I can barely understand a thing they say.

[rickc]

Are they Canadian citizens?I am no expert on Canadian citizenship.I lived in Canada for several years,but never sought citizenship.Correct me if I am wrong,but I believe you have to speak one of Canadas official languages to become a citizen.I know that as a legal resident of Canada I had to id myself as such when requested by border or law enforcement officials.My southern U.S. accent was a dead give away that I was not from Canada.You never lose the accent that you grew up with I find.