1) Mexico's government has put out an alert to its citizens visiting Arizona
http://www.sre.gob.mx/csocial/contenido/comunicados/2010/abr/cp_121eng.html (English version)
U.S. anti-immigration fanatics reacted to this advisory by pointing out that Mexico has really harsh anti-immigration laws!
So, while the anti-immigration accuse Mexican immigrants of "making the US more like Mexico", it's the anti-immigration fanatics that want to make the U.S. more like Mexico, the same country so many try to escape!
Meanwhile, Mexico does need to change its abusive immigration laws! Mexico's authorities have been known to be abusive to immigrants from the Central American countries. Mexico's authorities have also been known to harass US American visitors into giving them bribes!
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/may/03/mexicos-illegals-laws-tougher-than-arizonas/
Under the Mexican law, illegal immigration is a felony, punishable by up to two years in prison. Immigrants who are deported and attempt to re-enter can be imprisoned for 10 years. Visa violators can be sentenced to six-year terms. Mexicans who help illegal immigrants are considered criminals.
The law also says Mexico can deport foreigners who are deemed detrimental to "economic or national interests," violate Mexican law, are not "physically or mentally healthy" or lack the "necessary funds for their sustenance" and for their dependents.
More on Mexico's immigration laws at
http://www.vdare.com/awall/070516_memo.htm
So, yes, many within the Mexican-American community need to be more outspoken against Mexico's immigration laws. That will give them more credibility!
But the anti-immigration fanatic's attitude of "Mexico does it too, why can't we?" is lame!
2) Now, many in the US love to say "why can't those Mexican illegals just learn to just do it legally?"
People who ask those questions act as if the legal immigration policy is an easy process to go through! As easy as for someone to migrate from North Carolina to South Carolina!
It's not!
(by C. Coville)
http://www.cracked.com/article_18552_so-you-want-to-be-american-5-circles-immigration-hell.html
Hard core anti-immigration types in places like, say, Arizona, say it's not about racism. It's the fact that the people crossing the border are breaking the law. Sure, America is awesome, but the country lets in a lot of immigrants through nice legal channels, right? Why don't these Mexicans just try it that way?
Well, having gone through immigration myself in 2009 (the legal way), I can tell you right now there's a reason. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying breaking the law is the way to go. But I am saying that when you make the legal pathway to something long, baffling and infuriating enough, many people are going to skip it in favor of the easy option. Even if choosing that option makes them a criminal.
The author went on to go over all the red tape and bureaucratic hassle a person has to go through in order to legally immigrate to the US. The process is too long to go over in my blog, but if you click on that link above, you'll have an idea!
When entrepreneurs or medical patients have to go through such similar red tape, many Tea-Party types call it "government oppression", but they're OK so such government bull-stuff when it comes to immigration. Inconsistent and hypocritical!
With all that bureaucratic bull-stuff, running through the desert is civil disobedience as far as I'm concerned!
Jeff Jacoby said it best
http://jewishworldreview.com/jeff/jacoby051010.php3
But there is nothing thoughtful or admirable about insisting that a foolish or counterproductive law be enforced at all costs. In Montgomery, Ala., in 1955, Rosa Parks broke the law that mandated racial segregation on public buses. For refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger, Parks was arrested, fingerprinted, and fined. As she was being removed from the bus, she asked the arresting officer, "Why do you push us around?"
"I don't know," he replied. "But the law is the law and you're under arrest."
Of course respect for the law is important. But when laws are foolish, perverse, and repugnant to American interests and ideals, they should be resisted and replaced. Republicans and conservatives should be leading the fight for real immigration reform. How sad that so many of them would rather fight immigrants instead.
3) In my previous blog post, I mentioned that racial profiling and police abuses DID NOT REDUCE CRIME in LA during the late 1980's-early 1990's.
I mention that those who had bad experience with police officers who treat any young non-white persons as criminals, would be less likely to talk to the police when they're a victim or witness to a crime.
I got additional proof, thanks to an LA Times article discussing the recently deceased LAPD chief Darryl Gates.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-domanick18-2010apr18,0,1691456.story
The author talked about Gate's time as LAPD chief from 1978 -1992, then wrote the following
Gates believed that he and the LAPD were doing the city's most important work, and that they should be accountable to no one but themselves. His troops were arrogant and aggressive in their policing, and the cost was catastrophic. Many unarmed suspects were killed by officers, who rarely had to answer for their actions.
Among the many problems with these tactics were that they simply didn't work. During the '80s, for example, violent crime in L.A. grew at more than twice the national average. In 1986, Los Angeles had the highest number of reported violent crimes per 100,000 residents and the highest number of property crimes.
Unable to control the Bloods and Crips gangs, Gates began massive South L.A. "sweeps," in which thousands of black men were indiscriminately arrested. When Rodney King was beaten by LAPD officers, who were then acquitted for their actions, the anger finally exploded. The 1992 riots that followed lasted four days. When they were over, 45 people were dead and 2,300 were injured. Insured losses totaled $1 billion.
The cost to the department was also immense. The LAPD became a worldwide symbol of all that was bad, bigoted and brutal in big-city policing. The world, after all, had witnessed not only the beating of King on grainy footage played over and over on television but also the LAPD's failure to react swiftly to defend the city in the first crucial hours when the rioting might have been stopped.--
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gates-20100427,0,3591563.story
Critics, however, view him as a man who pursued an antagonistic, paramilitary approach to policing, in which officers treated the city's poor, minority communities as occupied territories. He was, they say, a man prone to racially insensitive remarks, either blind or impervious to the rising animosity many Angelenos felt toward the LAPD. That tension snapped when riots erupted in South L.A. after the acquittal of officers put on trial for the beating of Rodney King. Gates, who blamed those beneath him for the department's failed response, was nonetheless roundly criticized for the debacle. He resisted calls for his resignation for months after the riots, but eventually stepped down in June 1992In that same article, it mentioned that most of the LAPD officers during Chief Gates era are no longer on the police force. There is more diversity in the LAPD, and more importantly, less scandals.
So, let that be a lesson to those in Arizona who thinks "SB 1070, racial profiling, and abusive policing would make Arizona safer", because the people of Los Angeles LEARNED THE HARD WAY that such tactics doesn't make us safer, in fact, it makes things worse!
4) Basic ways Arizona's SB 1070 can be abused
http://reason.com/archives/2010/05/11/the-bogus-constitutional-argum
Under the new law, Arpaio [Pablo's note: Arpaio's an anti-immigration sheriff in Arizona] could troll Hispanic neighborhoods demanding the papers of anyone breaking, say, a local pooper-scooper law while walking their dogs. If they can't comply on the spot, he could haul them to a police station while their immigration status is checked. If it turns out that they are here illegally, they could be arrested, pending deportation. This means that the same pooper-scooper violation that would produce nothing more than a small fine for unaccented white folks—since they would not raise any “reasonable suspicion” that would justify an inquiry into their immigration status—could well result in a lengthy police encounter for Hispanic citizens or Hispanics with valid visas—and deportation for anyone who had overstayed their visa by even a day. “If this doesn't raise equal protection and Fourth Amendment concerns then what does?” asks Cecillia Wang, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union.
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Or another example! A loud late house party night party. Of course, those things are inconsiderate to the neighbors who got to wake up early to go to work!
But if that house party is attended by European-Americans, the cops would be like "everyone, just go home already! And call a taxi if you're drunk!"
But if the house party is attended by Mexicans or Central Americans, the police reaction under SB 1070 would NOT BE "everyone, just go home already!" It would be, "Everybody on the floor, and you better have your papers in your pockets!" But seriously, who the hell would bring important papers to a house party? And even if you did have those papers with you, this whole situation is a waste of time! And if you're a US born Latino who has been mistaken as an immigrant, you could be sent to the police station and treated like someone who needs to be deported, when in reality, you don't have "immigration papers" because you're not an immigrant!
If you're one of those being abused by such double standards, it is understandable if you're less likely to talk to police if you're a victim or witness to a crime!
