The article “Alabama Wins in Ruling on Its Immigration Law” by Campbell Robertson talks about how Alabama has joined Arizona and Georgia in creating a bill to stop illegal immigration. It also states that Alabama’s law is said to be the strictest of all the states. The bill outlawed transporting illegal immigrants, barred them from enrolling in public universities, and required police to verify a person’s immigration status during stops and/or arrests. The article does not explain how police are supposed to know when to check a criminal suspects immigration status which leads us to believe that race will play a big factor in determining whether or not a person’s immigration status is checked.
In the article “After Immigration Law, Few Americans Taking Immigrants Work,” the affect on the agriculture industry is discussed. The article mainly highlights how the new law in Alabama is affecting the farmers for the worst. At one point in the article however, the author states that Senator Scott Beason has received several emails and phone calls thanking him for helping them get jobs and/or getting promoted due to the fact that he signed the law.
What are your feelings about states, such as Alabama, implementing strict new immigration laws?
Alabama's immigration law should help the American economy by allowing Americans to fill the jobs that illegal immigrants were previously holding. But on the other hand, it would open up racism by allowing the police to determine if someone is illegal or not. And by that, they would probably just look at them and determine themselves if they are an immigrant. This is not fair for people who are legal citizens who might be stopped by police because they look like a certain race. But then again, we do have an immigration problem and this might a solution. Don't get me wrong; I don't think it is a good idea and they should definitely come up with a better way. As for removing the illegal immigrants from jobs, this would allow Americans to get those jobs and get them out of unemployment. The second article said that the American workers just don't feel like working on the farms and quit because it is too hard and is low paying. Also, the illegal immigrants worked harder and ended up being paid more. But I think eventually Americans will take up those jobs when they get desperate enough. And when they do, it will show that the immigration law has benefited the economy. So overall, I feel that this new immigration law can help the U.S., but there are some flaws in it. They need to change them and make it fairer.
ReplyDeleteI believe that it is unconstitutional. Not only because it means that the police can just pull people over that have places to be for no reason but, it also is a form of racism because, you are judging people of a certain skin color as illegal or bad. It is also unconstitutional because it violates many of your basic First Amendment rights. This also goes somewhat against the Declaration of Independence because, it makes people in those states scared to even leave their houses in fear of being possibly arrested this infringes of our right of the pursuit of happiness. Not only that but it takes away from real problems like, terrorism, robberies, or violence that is happening state wide. I understand that illegal immigration is a big issue in these states and are causing man problems but, we could work together to fix the problem instead of doing this. I firmly believe that this is wrong and they have much better things to do with their time than to stop people who they think could be illegal aliens.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Matt in the sense that I think this new law should be helping the United States replenish it's economy. I also think that the article not stating how police officers are to check to see if someone is an illegal immigrant, I think, is somewhat suspicious. I know of no one who walks around with their citizenship papers and passports everyday, which means that the only way for law enforcement to determine if someone is an illegal alien or not, is just by looking at them. Which is essentially legalized racism. Or in other words, racism for a good cause. As for the jobs, I don't know if Americans would be willing to fill these low paying jobs. Immigrants, I think, are good and bad for the economy. They are good for the economy and America as a whole because they add diversity to the culture and do accept these less than minimum wage jobs. But they are "bad" for the economy because those are less jobs for the people already living here.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Laura. I do not think that most immigrants would be able to prove they are legal if they get pulled over or in legal trouble. The issue is that there is no better way to confirm a suspicious person an immigrant than to look at them. This also raises the issue that people could be illegal immigrants from other countries with light skin, and if the immigrant's skin color is white, the police officer may have little way of telling if they are an immigrant. If the police are racist, they may begin stopping people who they think appear to be immigrants, instead of stopping them for traffic violations. This would just waste time for everyone, as the police could be stopping crimes.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that removing illegal immigrants from jobs would help the economy much. Even some unemployed people would not want to the labor that many immigrants are hired to do, as the pay may be too little. The employers would not want to raise the pay either, causing a lack of whatever services illegal immigrants are currently providing. I think that the current illegal immigrants should remain a part of this society, even though it is wrong to knowingly let them stay here, so they can provide cheap labor, which could help the economy.
I agree with Laura, Matt, and David. I think that these new Immigration laws are going to help the United States rebuild it's economy, and help the unemployment rate decrease. If the immigrants aren't occupying the jobs, then they will be open for an American Citizen who is here the right way to fill, and earn money so they can continue to support themselves and their family members. But, I disagree with Shaniece in saying that the police can just pull someone over for being illegal. The police cannot just pull someone over because they suspect they are illegal immigrants, because that is racism. As for how they are supposed to know, I have no idea. There is no way a person can tell if they are an illegal immigrant by looking at them, and as Laura said, no one carries their citizenship papers and passports with them wherever they go. It will be tough to verify their citizenship. I also disagree with her in saying that it violates their first amendment rights, because aren't those rights directed towards citizens of the United States, and not toward anyone who is living in America, citizen or not? I believe that as long as the immigrants aren't roaming free within our country and not paying taxes or being able to do the same things that American Citizens have, then they can be here under these new laws.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Laura, Matt, David, and Sydney. I think that having more strict laws is a good thing because our economy is going to flourish and improve. If illegal immigrants aren't taking jobs than our employment rate will decrease. I also believe that its unfair because the illegal immigrants are here living off out taxes and that they don't have to pay. I think that more states should should use these laws. The situation with the police stopping and checking people about having their citizenship I think is the right thing to do because if they were doing something illegally they should be punished for it. I think that if police are going to start checking people it needs to be for all people not just certain types of people it goes for everyone, than it wont be racist. I think that these new laws are goof for the United States.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of my classmates above. I don’t think most immigrants would be able to prove they are legal if they get pulled over or are in trouble with the law. The problem with this law is that there is really no good way to confirm you are or confirm you are not an illegal immigrant. You cannot go by someone’s skin color and it is so wrong of the police officers to make assumptions by your looks. I think police officers may begin stopping people who they think appear to be immigrants, instead of stopping them for traffic violations. This would just waste time for everyone, as the police could be stopping crimes. It is wrong to make assumptions based by skin color and pulling them over for no unlawful crimes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of my classmates as well. This law should help our nation with it's illegal immigrants problem, but it will also bring up racism due to the law enforcers judgement on who is legal or not. Today, so many people look different than one another but still may be legal immigrants for our nation, so it could be considered offensive for a legal immigrant to be questioned as an illegal when they already went through the tedious process of becoming legal immigrants. I disagree with Shaneice though; this law is trying to help our nation's economy, so if people from other countries came to the United States legally, then they should have nothing to hide, and should be able to prove that they are legal United States citizens.
ReplyDeleteI think Alabama's new strict immigration laws are unacceptable and almost unethical. I don't think it's right to check every person's immigration status within any sort of an arrest. I find it to consist of a little bit of racism because the police officers who are doing the arrests will be more suspicious of people whose nationalities aren't Caucasian. I also don't understand how they would even check to determine whether a person is legal or illegal in the United States.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that this law should have been passed because it is extremely offensive towards people. How are the police officers going to tell who is illegal from who is legal? They are going to judge people, which is exactly what our country is supposed to be against. If someone is a legal citizen, even born and raised here, to be asked if they are legal could be very offensive. For someone who maybe wasn't born here and has become a legal citizen, to be asked if they are illegal could also cause people to be offended. I do believe that illegal immigration is a big problem that absolutely needs to be addressed, but not in this way. There are other ways to crack down on illegal immigration other than judging people on what they look and sound like.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kayla that the new law is unjust and offensive toward citizens that may be pulled over and questioned about their citizenship. It is fair however for some part of the law, that action should be taken into initiative to restrict people from transporting illigal immigrants, and for immigrants to enroll in universities potentially taking an American citizen's oppurtunity to pursue and succeed a profession. I do not agree with the fact of when pulling over a citizen or possible illigal immigrant for police officers to improperly accuse and arrest someone based off of their race, features and speech, that might relate them as an "illigal immigrant." It is labeling and using stereo types of what people call someone an "illigal immigrant," this law encourages the use of racially identifying someone to be who they are not. The law is unreasonable and should not be enforced onto people. How Kayla said, the fact of adressing illigal immigration is not a big problem, therefore it is not worth the offense people will feel if this law is practiced on the streets.
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