Besides moral concerns by religious leaders and potential legal problems with the new law, there is the simple question of whether the new law makes sense—whether it is a valuable addition. You only have to read the first paragraph of SB1070 to understand what the problem is. The preamble states that the intent of the law is “attrition through enforcement.” It is not about attritting violent crime or drug smuggling, trespassing, vandalism, theft. Things that have been cited as “reasons why Arizona had to do something,” the new law does nothing about. By diverting scarce resources, it may even worsen those problems. If the total number of people in Arizona without proper documentation were to be reduced by half, while at the same time the volume of illegal drugs passing through Arizona, the incidence of violence on both sides of the border, and the number of desperate migrants dying in the desert heat were all to double: the authors of this law would claim success. It is truly an absurd law.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Arizona's New Law
(aka SB1070, “Arizona's Immigration Law”)
Besides moral concerns by religious leaders and potential legal problems with the new law, there is the simple question of whether the new law makes sense—whether it is a valuable addition. You only have to read the first paragraph of SB1070 to understand what the problem is. The preamble states that the intent of the law is “attrition through enforcement.” It is not about attritting violent crime or drug smuggling, trespassing, vandalism, theft. Things that have been cited as “reasons why Arizona had to do something,” the new law does nothing about. By diverting scarce resources, it may even worsen those problems. If the total number of people in Arizona without proper documentation were to be reduced by half, while at the same time the volume of illegal drugs passing through Arizona, the incidence of violence on both sides of the border, and the number of desperate migrants dying in the desert heat were all to double: the authors of this law would claim success. It is truly an absurd law.
Besides moral concerns by religious leaders and potential legal problems with the new law, there is the simple question of whether the new law makes sense—whether it is a valuable addition. You only have to read the first paragraph of SB1070 to understand what the problem is. The preamble states that the intent of the law is “attrition through enforcement.” It is not about attritting violent crime or drug smuggling, trespassing, vandalism, theft. Things that have been cited as “reasons why Arizona had to do something,” the new law does nothing about. By diverting scarce resources, it may even worsen those problems. If the total number of people in Arizona without proper documentation were to be reduced by half, while at the same time the volume of illegal drugs passing through Arizona, the incidence of violence on both sides of the border, and the number of desperate migrants dying in the desert heat were all to double: the authors of this law would claim success. It is truly an absurd law.
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