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Not to be out done by Arizona, Texas hops on anti-immigrant crazy train

State lawmakers need to sit this one out

Published: Friday, April 30, 2010

Updated: Sunday, May 2, 2010 15:05

Issue-6 18

Chris Scott

Arizona's controversial, possibly unconstitutional, new immigration law has put a spotlight on the state, and frankly, Texas is sick of it.


No one is going to out legislate the Lone Star State when it comes to excessively harsh and unnecessary laws that infringe on the rights of minorities. At least not while Rep. Leo Berman, and Rep. Debbie Riddle are in office.


These two "patriots" are drafting their own "show us your papers" legislation that they plan to file in January.


They specifically like the controversial provision that requires police officers to check the status of anyone they suspect to be an illegal immigrant.


California representative Brian Bilbray defended Arizona's new law, explaining on MSNBC that it's not that hard to spot an illegal immigrant. 


"There's a different type of attire, there's a different type of...right down to the shoes, right down to the clothes," Bilbray said.


That's right; American citizens and illegal's wear different shoes.


This is going to lead to racial profiling. There is absolutely no way around it. It will happen in Arizona. If it passes here, it will happen in Texas. And, it will be a nightmare. Let's assume that illegal immigrants will figure out the shoe thing, and then the police are going to have to start looking for more subtle signs, like being Hispanic.


The first time an American citizen spends time in jail for having dark skin and not carrying around paperwork, we lose the right to call ourselves the land of the free, much less the land of opportunity. Whatever happened to, "Give us your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free?"


It may seem like a silly concern, but it is very possible that some Texas legislators don't realize that Texas doesn't always have to look like the craziest state in the union.


Texas lawmakers, like Berman, who recently made headlines for calling President Barack Obama, "God's Punishment on us" at the Glen Beck headlined Taking Back America Rally, make Texas look like the attention starved girl at a party, doing a keg stands in a dress; because lets face it, she doesn't have anything interesting to say, and negative attention is better then no attention at all.


Texas does not have to jump on board this anti-immigrant legislation. Besides the obvious racism, there is no reason to believe that it would be positive for our state.  Sen. Harry Coates from OK, the only Republican to vote against Oklahoma's tough on immigrant's law from 2007, credits that law with destroying his state's economy. "You really have to work hard at it to destroy our state's economy, but we found a way. We ran off the workforce," he said.

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4 comments

Anonymous
Sun May 23 2010 18:51
If you make a conscious decision to break the law you should be willing to accept the consequences.
It's as simple as being asked to press one for english or two for spanish.

Are you a citizen? Yes or no. There, that wasn't foo bad was it?

Anonymous
Mon May 3 2010 13:37
I know the "show me your papers" phrase is used to stir controversy, but those of us that read these bills know that Rep. Riddle's HB49 doesn't even require a person to show ID. It is not the same bill that was passed in Arizona.

It's comical that illegal immigration supporters are in an uproar now. There have been immigration laws in this country since 1875, but many people view these laws are optional and that has come at a huge cost. Nearly 5 billion dollars per year is spent in Texas to educated children from other countries, write off health care costs that are never paid by citizens of other countries, and to incarcerate criminals that belong in other countries.

Being the only civilized country in the world with open borders has created enormous problems that aren't going to solve themselves.

Anonymous
Sun May 2 2010 20:46
Ok, what part of this issue do morons not understand? ILLEGAL immigration by itself causes problems, drug running, sex slavery, healthcare costs, welfare, etc. As a country, and even a hemisphere, if we as a people refuse to control borders, and allow nefarious people to conduct illicit trades that victimize impoverished people, why should we have any laws at all? Why not just alow the evil critters in society take what they want, kill whoever they want, and renew a system of slavery?

It amazes me how the same sort of people who want to regulate what kind of car I drive (they worry about my SUV and Global Warming), how I discipline my kids(no spanking), what kind of food I eat (too much salt, fat and MEAT), what kind of guns I own (if any at all), are so adamantly opposed to any regulation of what kind of people enter our country.

That is at least from the southern border. People from other countries, where they can't just walk or swim, have to struggle through red tape and interviews. Why are these left wingers not fighting the system so that it's easier for people to LEGALLY enter the US?

Anonymous
Fri Apr 30 2010 18:42
TEXAS is considering a law like this?

“There’s a different type of attire, there’s a different type of...right down to the shoes, right down to the clothes,” Bilbray said.

Debbie Riddle, I'm very ashamed of you.

I've seen a lot of asinine bigots in my time, but never so close to Houston, one of the melting pots of the U.S. Of course, Tomball doesn't have the refineries and factories that use illegal immigrants for labor, so maybe that's the difference.

What gets me is the Jewish people who are behind bills like this. You see, there once was this fella named Adolph Hitler who wanted a pure, white race and he did some ethnic cleansing of his own. Guess WHAT? Jewish people weren't included in his idea of a "pure white" race.

Let me tell you. I've worked with members of the KKK on the job at AMOCO and they don't like Jewish people one bit. "They killed Jesus," is their main cry. Yeah, they may kiss up to your face if you have any influence on giving them a job, but let me tell you, what you don't hear is what they are saying when you aren't around.

Pastor Martin Niemöller wrote a little something about this:

"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."

Wake up people!







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