AZ SB1070

Like most Americans, my family came from other countries. On my mother's side, from England and Eastern Europe. On my dad's, from Germany, and from Mexico. When some of them came, there was no such thing as legal or illegal immigrants. You just got a ticket and came, or in my Mexican grandmother's case, land changed hands, and people went from being Spanish to being Americans. Family was spread on both sides of the borders, and people traveled on both sides, speaking two languages.

I don't look Hispanic. My dad does, a little. With Arizona's new SB10170, which will allow police to stop people they "reasonably suspect" of being illegal immigrants, and prosecuting them. Being able arrest illegal immigrants isn't new. What is, is that all it takes to be stopped and asked for id, is for the police to think a person might not be legal by the way that person looks.

The governor says that police will not racially profile the people they stop. But I wonder who will be stopped? Will I when I go to visit my Dad in Tucson? Probably not. I'm too pale, and I don't speak Spanish. But I think about some of the people I grew up with, people who do look more Hispanic, who have Spanish names, who are bi-lingual. What if they forget their id when they go to a festival downtown? This reminds me of other times in history when groups of people were designated as suspicious and asked to carry identification papers proving they were who they said they were. I saw some pictures of protesters on Flickr, one of a person carrying a sign calling the governor a  "Nazi." I'm wary of name-calling, and of using powerful language like that, but really, I can see where someone would feel the need to say that.

As a college professor, my closest issue with illegal immigration is education. I struggle with who is to blame when kids get to be college-age and can't go because their parents brought them here when they were very young, but they never became citizens. They have great grades, perfect English, and no way to get financial aid. They almost never blame their parents, not in the stories I read or the interviews I hear. They get angry that they have to go to Mexico to go to college, and the schools aren't as good as ours. Or they have to go back to a country they have never lived in and apply for student visas, then explain why they have U.S. high school diplomas. The kids had no choice in where they grew up, but they are mad at our government for not accepting them. 

I'm mad at my government too. For decades we've looked the other way with illegal immigration as opportunity dwindled in Mexico and grew like dandelions here. Why haven't we done something to change immigration rules, or stop it, or give amnesty, or something? Anything?

Part of what's missing from discussion about illegal immigration is the reasoning behind it. What would cause people to risk their lives, spend all their hard-earned savings, and put their lives into the hands of smugglers who will force them to walk miles without water, to stand in vans without air circulation or a way to relieve themselves for hours, to hide in trunks or undercarriages, or wherever they can. They leave their families for a chance at making enough money to pay rent and feed themselves, and send money home. These people live more or less in hiding, trying not to break any additional laws so they can keep working. The few who do commit crimes are held up as the standard of their community.

I pray  that the legislation in Arizona will help our national government to bring up immigration reform. I pray that Mexico and South American countries will be able to revive their economies and schools and governments so that people aren't compelled to leave their homelands. I pray that the people of the U.S. can be empathetic to the plight of people who come here illegally, and that whatever their feeling about immigration are, that they don't fall into the trap of hate and racism.