| Arizona's Shameful SB 1070 |
With the approval of SB 1070, the state of Arizona has regressed into an era
where discrimination has been institutionalized through a misguided and
ill-conceived attempt to formulate state-level immigration policy.
Constitutional scholars are already pointing out that SB 1070 is
unconstitutional, as it infringes on the federal government's role in
formulating immigration policy and enforcement of such laws.
Those of us who are immigrants and have lived through highly politicized
periods of anti-immigrant fervor, as was the case in California before and
after the passage of Proposition 187, know that such initiatives, which
supposedly target only the undocumented, have a very direct and serious
impact on wider social sectors, including legal residents and U.S.-born
people of Mexican origin. Racial profiling, polarization and discrimination
increase, degrading social harmony and making immigrants and Mexican
Americans as undesirable elements of the American nation.
The severity of the new law in Arizona can only be compared to the
institutionalized scapegoating that took place during the Great Depression
when Mexican Americans, immigrant and native-born, where rounded up
and deported to Mexico. Estimates of the number of deported range from
500,000 to 1 million.
SB 1070 should not be tolerated and all defenders of democracy and
immigrant rights should support efforts to challenge it in court. Similarly,
supporters of SB 1070 must be made to pay the costs of their decision in the
electoral arena, beginning with governor Jan Brewer.
Comprehensive immigration reform is needed in the United States and has
been needed for decades. A just and rational reform must take into account
the current and future labor market and demographic trends that are going to
continue to require foreign labor for an aging American nation. Current
immigrants, including the undocumented, contribute significantly to the
greatness of this country and to the resurgence of its economy.
We deserve better policies than the scapegoating and racial discrimination
that is promoted and institutionalized by laws like SB 1070.
where discrimination has been institutionalized through a misguided and
ill-conceived attempt to formulate state-level immigration policy.
Constitutional scholars are already pointing out that SB 1070 is
unconstitutional, as it infringes on the federal government's role in
formulating immigration policy and enforcement of such laws.
Those of us who are immigrants and have lived through highly politicized
periods of anti-immigrant fervor, as was the case in California before and
after the passage of Proposition 187, know that such initiatives, which
supposedly target only the undocumented, have a very direct and serious
impact on wider social sectors, including legal residents and U.S.-born
people of Mexican origin. Racial profiling, polarization and discrimination
increase, degrading social harmony and making immigrants and Mexican
Americans as undesirable elements of the American nation.
The severity of the new law in Arizona can only be compared to the
institutionalized scapegoating that took place during the Great Depression
when Mexican Americans, immigrant and native-born, where rounded up
and deported to Mexico. Estimates of the number of deported range from
500,000 to 1 million.
SB 1070 should not be tolerated and all defenders of democracy and
immigrant rights should support efforts to challenge it in court. Similarly,
supporters of SB 1070 must be made to pay the costs of their decision in the
electoral arena, beginning with governor Jan Brewer.
Comprehensive immigration reform is needed in the United States and has
been needed for decades. A just and rational reform must take into account
the current and future labor market and demographic trends that are going to
continue to require foreign labor for an aging American nation. Current
immigrants, including the undocumented, contribute significantly to the
greatness of this country and to the resurgence of its economy.
We deserve better policies than the scapegoating and racial discrimination
that is promoted and institutionalized by laws like SB 1070.
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Jesús Martínez, Ph.D.