Blowback from the new AZ law continues

For about the eight months or so, I've been posting at the Bill of Rights Defense Committee web site. It's one of the reasons that I haven't been here as much as I would like. I've decided that I want to share what I post here on my own personal site.

Last week I referenced a post from Foreign Policy in Focus regarding the new Arizona immigration law:

Christine Ahn and Linda Burnham have a nice overview of Arizona's new immigration law at Foreign Policy in Focus. They point out the many that political entities around the country are responding negatively to the law,

City councils across the country — in Boston, West Hollywood, Oakland, Tucson, and Flagstaff — have all passed resolutions against SB1070, and San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom imposed a moratorium on city worker’s official travel to Arizona. The Phoenix Suns even demonstrated their solidarity with migrant communities when they wore jerseys with “Los Suns” on Cinco de Mayo.

Testimonies are being taken from undocumented woman and children. The fear that has been generated by this law has intensified,

Woman after woman shared how everyone is afraid to come out of their homes, whether to drive to the grocery store or to send their children to school. One woman named Terri told the delegation that she had often given rides to people going to the doctor or to the store, but “since SB 1070 was signed, a lot of people haven’t been coming out, even to get free food.” Women testified that not only were they afraid to access medical or other urgent social services, the threat of deportation also prevents them from reporting incidences of sexual assault, domestic violence, or exploitation on the job.

There have also been incidences of violence,

Then there are the cases of police brutality. One woman named Alejandra was the victim of police violence during a raid by Maricopa County sheriff deputies wearing ski masks. They slammed her into a wall, and she suffered injuries to her jaw and teeth. While detained for three months, she was denied any medical care. The mother of four children, she was still nursing her three-month old baby at the time of the raid. Stories like these abound.

One point that is rarely mentioned in all this has been the reasons behind the mass immigration. As an example the writers explain,

What is often absent from debates about immigration is why so many people are seeking work in the United States. According to Timothy A. Wise of Tufts University, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) doubled migration to the United States, “despite stepped up enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border.”

The writers end the article by pushing the point that the President must be pressured into overturning this bill.

Poor, put upon Congress says Mr. President

Last Wednesday, April 26, aboard Air force One, President Obama had this to say about Congress dealing with the immigration issue this year:

We’ve gone through a very tough year and I’ve been working Congress pretty hard. So I know, there may not be an appetite immediately to dive into another controversial issue. There’s still work that needs to be done on energy. Mid-terms are coming up. So, I don’t want us to do something for the sake of politics that doesn’t solve the problem.

I'm sorry, but this is totally unacceptable for me. No "appetite"? These men and women actively campaigned for these jobs. Nobody held a gun to their head and forced them into these positions. The Senators and Representatives make $174,000 a year. The leaders make even more.

We're not talking heavy manual labor here, folks. These guys dress up in suits and business attire and sit on their butts pontificating, bloviating and arguing with each other. Hardly debilitating work, wouldn't you say? We have urgent decisions that need to be made, such as immigration and energy. And the President thinks these poor babies don't have an "appetite" to deal with them? And we have to forestall solutions that are desperately needed for another year or more because of a lack of "appetite"? Bull puckey!

Do you have any idea how many of the 9% unemployed in this country would love to make that kind of salary? And, I'm sure they would work their butts off to earn it. Hey, they might even start on immigration or energy bills right this minute if they had the job. And, maybe, just maybe, they would plug all those freebies that the current elected members of Congress gave to Wall Street, the mining industry, the oil multinationals, etc.

This president needs to quit mollycoddling Congress. Make them earn their money. Get on the stick, Mr. President!