Again Irrationally Hip Deep in Hysteria

The hyperventilating left again has its collective knickers in a bunch. This time over the enactment of legislation in Arizona to have its law enforcement officers enforce the law. The legislation makes it illegal (a crime) for someone to be in Arizona who, by entering the country in violation of federal law, is illegally in the United States. 

Notwithstanding contrary claims of the state law's critics, the statute does not promote, provide for, or permit racial profiling. In fact it specifically prohibits that practice. What it does say is that police who are suspicious about the immigration status of someone with whom they are dealing for another proper reason can and should ask about and look into the suspect's status. This will not lead to officers stopping people on the street willy nilly, without any basis other than an individual's appearance.

The law may in fact have a disproportionate impact on those who are in the country illegally . . . for reasons that critics of the legislation want everyone to ignore. The illegals -- and Arizona has a very high number of them relative to its population -- are responsible for a hugely disproportionate number of the state's homicides and other violent crimes. Arizona certainly has a legitimate interest in protecting its citizens from the crime wave it is experiencing and this would be true even if the federal government had taken or was taking any action to curb the influx of criminals.

Finally, those who would grant amnesty -- a.k.a. a path to citizenship -- to the illegals should be required to explain how and why citizenship would transform criminals, often violent ones, into good and desirable neighbors.