California's Past is Arizona's Prologue

May 6, 2010 By Gebe Martinez May 6

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger settled into Jay Leno’s guest chair last week on “The Tonight Show” and declared that Arizona’s harsh new immigration law, which relies on racial profiling, “is a huge mess.” He quickly emphasized, “I, as governor here, I would never do that in California…No way.”

Schwarzenegger’s swagger, however, does not mean that California has come up with a better way to control illegal immigration, or that its citizens are not frustrated by the federal government’s broken immigration system and frightened by reports of illegal drug-trafficking and violence across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Rather, he knows the political and economic harm that can come to a state when immigrant bashing goes to the extreme and the public discussion turns hyperbolic.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/05/learning_from_prop187.html

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Permalink Reply by Jack Richmond on May 7, 2010 at 10:12am

Having lived in Los Angeles, I know first hand that if you don't speak Spanish, you won't be able to speak to 90% of the Hispanic population. They don't care to learn English or to become US Citizens, they want you to learn Spanish and give them free food, housing, medical, education, welfare money and you wallet, if you are in a dark alley. The crime rate among Hispanics is sky-high and gangs are rampant in the Spanish community. If people have fear of certain neighborhoods, it is with good reason. I have been in those neighborhoods and the Hispanics are also afraid.
However, in defense of California, it is not just the Hispanics who move in, form gangs, practice crime and expect everything for free. People of many nationalities are doing the same thing. There are Asian gangs, Middle-Eastern gangs and so on.
There are also many people who have become citizens, work a job, pay taxes and obey laws. That they must pay the price for their unethical countrymen is regrettable and a low-down, dirty shame. You can't point to one bad man and say that all from that country are bad, just as you can't point to one cherry-picker and say that they are all doing the jobs we don't want to do.
JR

Permalink Reply by Andrea Zug on May 8, 2010 at 9:28am

I agree with what you say JR. No one should blame a legal immigrant for what their illegal counterparts have done, are doing or will do. The crux of the matter is this...we have to find a way to force the government to enforce it's own laws on illegal immigration. While they have been looking for and finding more ingenous ways to take more of our money and give it to those who refuse to work, the immigration problem has grown steadily to the point where we have some thirty million illegals that we are expected to feed, clothe, educate, heal...on top of the millions who continue to get something for nothing. All this administration seeks is to get the votes of these people who have to right to vote. So the solution is a simple one...give them amnesty and citizenship. It seems simple to the simple minded I suppose. But there is one tiny little problem that the folks who work and are expected to pay the bills are asking...how much more are we expected to do?
We have laws...enforce them. Send them back...in the long run it will cost less than continuing to support them and pick up the broken lives of those they rob and sometimes kill. If they truly want to become Americans, let them do it the right way. I say you go Arizona and I hope many more states join with you and bring this to a conclusion soon. Support those who support enforcing our immigration laws...vote!