In case you missed it, Arizona declared its independence yesterday. Yes indeed, Arizona has decided that it is too good to remain part of the union, and as one of the four more recent ratifiers of the Constitution acted on its buyer’s remorse and split from the union as its Governor, Jan Brewer, signed into law a bill that for all practical purposes forces visitors from other states to travel to Arizona with a U.S. passport under the protection of the U.S. Secretary of State, the esteemed Hillary Rodham Clinton (like Bill, I cannot resist mentioning her whenever I have a chance).
Unlike the signing of the U.S. Declaration in 1776, this was not a multi-signatoried event with Founding Parents traveling to the capital over a series of weeks and months to sign. It happened before TV cameras with the swipe of a pen by a single individual so that now, if you are in Arizona and either looking or behaving in a way that some officer of the law perceives as alien, you must now, by law, produce proof of legality. Arizona will evidently be issuing some kind of national I.D. document, but if you are not from Arizona, you would be well advised to have your passport on you at all times while within its borders. The papers must be on your person at the time you are stopped. You can be arrested for not having your papers with you while looking or acting alien. Exactly what is meant by that phrase has yet to be defined, so, at the moment, it is impossible to know how we might alter our looks or behavior in order to slide beneath Arizona police radar.
It is so interesting that this is being called an “Immigration Law” far and wide in the press when it is, in fact, a vote of no confidence in the federal government and secession from it. Given the wide publicity a few weeks ago of Virginia’s celebration of what state officials argued was a War of Secession, you would think that the concept of secession would be fresh in the minds of media reporters.
As I have argued here on many occasions and as former President Bill Clinton reminded everyone last weekend, words mean something, and we should be careful about how we select our vocabulary. Immigration law can be enacted only by a country, not by a state. This is not an immigration law and resembles immigration law far less than it does the use of national I.D. cards to classify groups as seen in Nazi Germany.
In the event that Arizona is on your itinerary and you do not have a current U.S. passport, of course it is our beautiful and efficient Head Homegirl to the rescue. Just go here to her website. She will make sure you are protected while within the borders of the Country of Arizona.
In case you missed this historic occasion, here is the video.
more about “Arizona“, posted with vodpod
Wouldn’t going down to the hardware store – actually more like a wholesale warehouse – and getting some chain link and a closed circuit camera system be far cheaper than the huge lawsuit Arizona’s going to be hit with as soon as somebody goes off and arrests somebody’s 87 year-old grandma or a 15-year-old honor student because they can’t provide documentation on the spot. And what about the bill for the police presence when people protest those detainments of US citizens because this is America after all – we love a good protest. It’s only going to take one mistake to get a lot of negative national attention and loads of lawyer fees with this law and I think that Governor Brewer will end up seeing this draconian nonsense as the mistake that it is.
Very good point! False arrest is a crime, isn’t it? The other danger here, of course, and no one is talking about this, is that with a whole population walking around with I.D., SOMEONE will sooner or later lose his or hers and it will fall into the hands of counterfeiters who will start mass-producing these babies for the black market. Oh, it is just so rich with criminal possibilities.
Yes, the Home Depot strategy makes much more sense.
Also, here in the US I do some things – walk the dog, work in the yard, ect… – without taking my driver’s license with me. I have been conditioned by society to be perfectly confident roaming my neighborhood with my dog without the benefit of identifying documentation. Someone important – a doctor, a professor, a prominent pastor, a lawyer, somebody – is going to be hassled in one of those situations and once again we’re back to the lawsuit thing.
And what about those people who might actually be visiting from a foreign country, be it Mexico, Sweden, Israel or wherever? Oh, the problems that will cause. I really think this governor was far too concerned with being “conservative enough” to have actually thought through the implications of what she was signing into law.
Yup – trouble will ensue. The Gov probably did not think this through. When she was trying to explain it she seemed incoherent, so I am not certain she understands the bill she signed into law.
Try being young,male and walking around Southern California without I.D. You will be arrested.
I believe it!
Here’s a thought: instead of a boycott, how about a mass visitation to Arizona by thousands and thousands of U.S. citizens who would then proceed to act alien (but without spending any money)?
I could bring along my pseudo-Swedish chef accent from Sesame street days and see if that gets any legal attention.
This is a BRILLIANT IDEA!!!! Best one yet!
As a hispanic the only thing I can think about is the cheech and chong movie “Born in East L.A”. What happened in that movie will happen in Arizona. The premise of that movie is that a man who was born in east la,lives in east la,works in east la and gets picked up because he looks illegal. He has no ID on him because he was just going outside. They talk to him in spanish,but he does not speak spanish. He gets sent to mexico and is lost because he is not from mexico. He has to sneak across the border to get home.
I have a feeling that exact thing will happen arizona.
It is open to a world of trouble. AZ has no idea what a bad move this is.
The funny thing, there is not one set look for people who are or part mexican. They can have blonde hair,blue eyes and look like they are from sweden to they look like they are from africa and everything in between. I have cousins in my family that are part mexican that have red hair,green eyes,freckles and fair skin. When they start talking in spanish people who do know them freak out and look like they have just seen a ghost.
I know, Jill, and it not just Mexicans they are supposed to be looking for since IF the border is porous, ANYBODY can sneak in through Mexico. That’s why I like Leixa’s suggestion. We all go there and “act alien” without spending any money. I’ll speak Creole. (Am blonde, but there are blonde Haitians, too.)
Aside from not speaking English how does one “act alien”? Is there a special way of walking the police are supposed to be on the lookout for? Do they glow in the dark? I’m just curious since this a request for ID isn’t supposed to be based on race according to the text of the bill.
Well that is exactly the question! What does “acting alien” look like. For the record: The Gov of AZ doesn’t KNOW! But she signed it ANYWAY!
?????
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~trouille/EYH/pics/435px-Alien.png
Well, yes. That should pretty much land you in an AZ jail – UNLESS – you are traveling under the protection of the U.S. SOS i.e. have your passport on you – but WHERE? Oh yes, green, gay-looking things – very alien-looking – no we don’t want none of those in AZ!