la gran idea

As we all know by now, Arizona has amended their existing immigration laws to include this sort of insidious language:

FOR ANY LAWFUL CONTACT MADE BY A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL OR AGENCY OF THIS STATE OR A COUNTY, CITY, TOWN OR OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THIS STATE WHERE REASONABLE SUSPICION EXISTS THAT THE PERSON IS AN ALIEN WHO IS UNLAWFULLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES, A REASONABLE ATTEMPT SHALL BE MADE, WHEN PRACTICABLE, TO DETERMINE THE IMMIGRATION STATUS OF THE PERSON.

With stuff like "lawful contact" and "reasonable attempt" and "practicable", it is no wonder that angry mobs have taken to the streets to protest and throw trash at police officers.

This is the first such instance of riotous mobs on American soil I can think of... in like... I dunno, 17 months or so. And these angry organizers say there are more to come.  On May 1st, 2010, opponents of the new Arizona law intend to protest with a unified march on 70 different cities! This is how I thought up la gran idea...

The US Punishes the Honest, Law Abiders

Yesterday night my wife's Aunt, Uncle and two cousins legally immigrated to the United States.  Even though I could tell they were a bit scared, being thousands of miles from their home while leaving all they had and all they knew behind, I could see the excitement and wonder in their eyes.  I asked her cousin if he was excited and he smiled from ear to ear and said, "Oh yes!".  It made me feel really good that our country can provide that opportunity for people, but it also tore me up a bit.  Here is why.

So, my in-laws petitioned for their immigration.  Do you know how long it took for them to get here?  26 years.  It took 26 years for them to arrive.  It took so long, in fact, that some of their children (none of whom had been born when the petition was filed) were too old to be included and had to stay.  This is outrageous.

We allow millions of illegal immigrants to come in every year without getting in trouble.  Hell, if their family had come to the US illegally, they would have been granted amnesty already.  Not only that, but all of their children would have been legal US citizens regardless of their parents status since they would have been born here.  So, by breaking the law they would have been rewarded multiple times.

Something is seriously wrong with our system that it takes that long to immigrate legally.  It is even more wrong that we reward illegal immigrants with drivers licenses, health care, welfare, and other public funds.

We have to clamp down on our borders, and we have to stream line legal immigration processes.   The end.