Golmer's Blog

A new morning and a fresh appeal to calm discourse, I believe, is in order. Some things were said on both sides that were (perhaps) said in the heat of passionate debate over immigration - some things mean and some things untrue. So instead of burning in Tweet Jail, I decided to put it down in a somewhat broader forum.

First of all, to what my actual position is, and about what I actually said (and didn’t say).

My position is the same as it was as I posted several days ago via this blog and via twitter. The elements of my position are:

The current problems with immigration have been allowed to fester for decades thanks to:

-a decided lack of Federal, State, and Local willingness or ability to enforce existing immigration law (primarily United States Code Title 8)

-whale of a bureaucracy that makes it practically impossible for the law TO be enforced or for a prospective immigrant to follow said process, 

-Corporate, industrial, private, and government businesses and persons willing to turn a blind eye and unabashedly use sub-par, sub-minimum wage illegal alien labor in jobs and industries that US Citizens refuse to do and frankly can’t do at the illegal wages paid to illegal workers,

-A comparatively shitty economy and way of life in Mexico and other countries of central and south America that make coming to the US and earning sub-par, almost slave-labor wages a vast improvement over the livelihood available in the host country

-A nation full of rich white people that could give a shit about illegal aliens and what happens to them as long as their strawberries are cheap, their hotel rooms are clean, and they can have their basement finished in a weekend for $2000.00 instead of $45,000.00, no questions asked.

-A lack of ability in this country to prevent identification fraud such that it would make it impossible for non-US citizens to enter the country illegally and find work, get fraudulent identification, get paid, get a driver’s license, get a fake identification card, etc.

-A lack of any kind of plan to deal with the tens of millions of illegal immigrants already here who have built themselves lives under the current broken immigration system. It is unrealistic to let the system continue on as it is, or to round up and deport everyone, so something along the lines of a smart path to US citizenship for those who are here under the “turn a blind eye and get cheap labor” system that turns illegal immigrants into slave labor.

That being said, both legally and constitutionally, every single person in this country who is not a citizen (Born or Naturalized through a bonafide government legal process) or who is not here under a valid, current work permit or visa of some kind - is breaking US Law. They are here illegally. They are criminals by their very existence within the borders of the United States, no matter what source country they came from and by no matter what mechanism they failed to adhere to US law.

Is that a popular statement? No. Is it a nice, politically correct humanitarian position? No. Is it the absolute truth? Yes. Is there any easy fix for it whereby everyone wins? Absolutely Not.

The entire time a person is breaking a US law, they are, and ought to be, subject to detainment and due process of law to redress whatever reason it is causing the law to be broken; whether that be theft, robbery, immigration issues, or anything else. There is no valid excuse at any level for any criminal (whatever the reason) to expect that they should not be caught or that they should be able to hide criminal activity from the purview of law enforcement entities for any reason, including race, creed, color, national origin, sex, etc. If a law is found to be constitutional it is the duty of every sworn law enforcement officer at every level of government to enforce it; officers are not allowed to observe the breaking of US law and turn a blind eye.

Of course that does happen too - one of the reasons we are in this predicament is that Law enforcement officers can and will be corrupt, or sympathetic, or complicit, or accept bribes due to getting shitty wages for putting their lives on the line, or any other number of bogus reasons. They may even exploit illegal labor themselves just because they know they can get away with it and illegal immigrants will be unable to do anything about it because of their status.

My position is to make no further comment about HOW our nation’s immigration status degenerated to the point it is now or that I believe the Arizona law is the BEST or most amenable way to redress the problem. I make no more statement about the humanitarian problems associated with what happens to illegal immigrants once they are caught - that is a law enforcement issue and always has been. I happen to think the Arizona law is a last-ditch effort built out of frustration about the decades-worth of failed national immigration policy and failed federal law enforcement and frankly a moral failure on the part of all Americans, businesses, and government entities willing to exploit the situation to their own personal and monetary benefit. Just like the US health care policy, the Arizona law is like throwing a bandaid on a severed femoral artery.

The question, ultimately, comes down to one of constitutionality and legality. The question is, is the Arizona law as written constitutional? Certain elements of it certainly must (and will) be tested, but the greater question the law poses is do States have the right to enforce Federal Law (In this case US Code Title 8 specifically) within their borders? Especially if the Federal government has botched the job so completely that we find ourselves in a situation where over twelve million illegal immigrants (and therefore highly exploited undocumented modern-day slave-labor workers) work and live in this country doing the jobs we are unwilling or unable to do ourselves.

The answer to that question is usually YES. States can make laws to enforce federal law. They can even make laws MORE restrictive than federal law. What they cannot do is make laws that negate or make US law less restrictive - such as California is trying to do with respect to marijuana, for example. 

Another question is does the Arizona law, as written, unfairly single out (as Dan put it) “brown people” and discriminate against citizens? No. The law itself does not. Its eventual implementation probably will, however; given the specific circumstances, activity, and location that the law is implemented within, and given the majority of offenders in that specific area that are most likely to be in violation of said law. The only people I might point out, however, that are actually “discriminated against” are illegal immigrants. It is a ridiculous expectation to think that any citizen who forgets their driver’s license in their wallet at home is going to be thrown in the back of a van and dropped off at the nearest immigration checkpoint. That is just ridiculous and reactionary. Will US Citizens (brown ones even) be asked for proof of citizenship? Yes. They are to this day, prior to the state law, when pulled over by any federal law enforcement.

Why should illegal immigrants, then, expect to be able to get away with breaking the law just because the law enforcement officer is local or state instead of federal? They shouldn’t expect that at all. They do expect that NOW, though, because the system has degenerated to the point where they can.

Is Arizona taking a match to a problem already soaked with gasoline? Absolutely. Do they have the LEGAL and CONSTITUTIONAL right to do so? ABSOLUTELY. They do at least until or if their draconian law is struck down on constitutional grounds. Do they have the moral, ethical right to do so? That remains to be seen.

Now, on the one thing Dan has said that, in my estimation, was either misstating my position and/or “putting words in my mouth.” 

Dan postulated that I am for the rape and killing of illegals because this law would scare illegals into not reporting crimes under fear of deportation, and therefore said illegals will be unwilling to report crimes to law enforcement and so therefore could be exploited. That is a ridiculous statement on his part. This is like Christians saying that Atheists, without God’s morals, would go around automatically raping and killing everyone they can because they have no moral base. It is a reactionary, ridiculous statement. 

The illegal immigrants in this country are ALL READY being exploited on a massive scale for their cheap labor. They get paid fractions of what they would have to be paid if they were US citizens or documented workers. They have, basically, replaced the slave and indentured labor of the Blacks, Chinese, Irish, Polish, and Italian immigrants that preceded them in the industrial era. They have to put up with whatever person or business hires them and they already put up with doing a day’s hard labor only to be stiffed by the people who hired them - just because they CAN get away with it in the lawless realm of exploitive unskilled labor. They are ALREADY subject to exploitation at all levels and in all ways, because they do NOT enjoy the constitutional protections that citizens (a special class of persons) are afforded over and above persons that are not citizens.

A situation, by the way, our laws and constitution were meant to preclude. By supporting the status quo, Dan and everyone that supports the hiding, harboring, and exploitation of undocumented workers as if they were slaves - because in essence they are slaves. They are slaves to everyone who doesn’t complain or wonder about how cheap their strawberries are. 

Oh, and I have to say, Dan, that I may be the very first moderate Atheist ever to be called a Teabagger. I’d find that laughable if it wasn’t so insulting. I don’t like NASCAR, God, Sara Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, or anything else right wingers like. I could actually SPELL a protest sign correctly were I ever to make one. I just happen to be someone who takes the constitution and our laws seriously no matter what law we happen to be talking about. 

I make no apologies for being someone who follows our laws to the letter. NOT following our laws has what has gotten us to this very point with respect to immigration that we find ourselves in today. Hate me for speaking the truth, hate me for having an unpopular position, but don’t hate me for supporting and defending our constitution from all enemies, both foreign and domestic.