By Douglas V. Gibbs
The Arizona Law, which puts into writing what law enforcement officials are supposed to be doing already, has created quite a stir. In fact, in Los Angeles, the annual May Day event is expected to draw over 100,000 people to protest Arizona's legislative move.
As the sun peaked over the horizon this morning, Downtown Los Angeles was already attracting a trickle of folks planning on being a part of the mass protest that participants are calling a march against racism and anti-immigration forces.
Singer Gloria Estefan spoke to the marchers as the event was ready to begin, saying that the United States is a nation of immigrants. She said immigrants are good, hard-working people, not criminals.
Legal Immigrants can be good, hard-working people. If they jumped the border illegally, they are criminals in every sense of the word, and statistics show they are more likely than legal immigrants to continue in their law-breaking ways.
At the end of the march there will be a rally area where the protesters can congregate to put forth their message be it through signs, shirts, or screaming and yelling. The message, however, if you listen closely, claims that the law is something it is not. Reading the law carefully reveals that racial profiling is not acceptable according to the text of the law, and citizens will not be expected to "have their papers." The law in Arizona simply enables law enforcement to enforce immigration law should they reasonably suspect a person, or persons, are in the country illegally after confronting the individuals for a separate infraction like speeding, jay-walking, and the like. No civil rights are being violated, the law is simply being enforced.
In fact, I find it fascinating that American Citizens need to have their passport or VISA ready when returning to the United States, yet we are supposed to let illegals who don't even have an allegiance to this country to walk right in and immediately sign up for entitlement programs.
Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, says of the Arizona law, "While we recognize that we must enact 21st-Century legislation to secure our borders and ensure the safety of all our citizens, the law signed by the governor of Arizona simply does not do this. The Arizona law is not only misguided, it is unpatriotic and unconstitutional. I add my voice to strongly opposing this unpatriotic and un-American law. And I call upon our federal leaders to pass comprehensive immigration reform in its place."
Like the protesters, it is not only apparent that Mayor Villaraigosa has not read the law, he also has no understanding of the Constitution.
Of course Los Angeles' position on illegal aliens is going to be different than that of Arizona's. After all L.A. is the home of the LAPD's Special Order 40 -- which prevents officers from verifying if people are legal residents.
The LAPD hopes the protests today will be orderly, hoping to avoid any repeat of the May Day 2007 melee in MacArthur Park when some of the department's elite Metro Division officers were videotaped wielding batons and shooting less-than-lethal rubberized bullets in an attempt to disperse what many believed to be a mostly peaceful crowd after a small group of agitators confronted police.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
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