Sarah wrote:ohsherrie wrote:If I knew a pathological murder that fit my description was being sought in this area I'd be damned glad to prove my identity to help Law Enforcement narrow the field.
That is not the same thing, that would be a one-time event whereas this bill makes it so Latinos have to constantly prove their legality again and again. They don't get to prove their citizenship once and be done with it like in your scenario, they're going to have to pull out papers every time an authority figure sees fit. It's easy for you to shrug because you're white and have never been discriminated against by your country because of it, but minorities face discrimination every day and are usually treated as "guilty until proven innocent" by law enforcement, and to make it legal to harass LEGAL Latinos is embarrassing for a country that claims to be one of tolerance and equal opportunity. And what will this law accomplish? Some illegals will be caught. More will come in through loopholes in the system. Meanwhile America is harassing its own citizens on a daily basis and breeding hatred for anyone with brown skin.
I think if you were being harassed every day by cops and neighbors alike you would be up in arms about your rights as a citizen.
This bill is the wrong way to go about solving illegal immigration.
Like I said in one of my other sentences that you chose to ignore, if they're citizens they should be proud to show it. The only reason I can think of that would make somebody afraid or resentful of showing their credentials is if they're afraid of being caught for something.
Like I said in another sentence that you chose to ignore, that's a small price to pay for the safety of the
CITIZENS of this country. If you're not a citizen then you should be afraid, very afraid. If you're not, Homeland security isn't doing their job.
How would you solve the problem of illegal immigration?
The way I would do it is to let every citizen know they need to carry proof of citizenship and allow a reasonable period for
CITIZENS to do so. Then ID people at every opportunity and if they can't prove their citizenship within a reasonable period of time (hours, not days) send them back to where they came from. If they gave birth to a child here so they could get into our social programs give them a choice of; a) taking a citizenship test
within a month of their arrest b)taking their child back where they came from c)leaving their child here to be adopted by a legal citizen of this country. No exceptions for any reason medical or otherwise.
You have to draw the line somewhere and a blurry, grey line is as good as none.