Last week, the elected Republican members of the State Government of Arizona declared their support for an awful, dangerous and probably unconstitutional bill signed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer that would make illegal immigration a state crime and empower local and state law enforcement to ask people (read: Latinos and dark-skinned people) for proof of legal residency.

An activist shouts during a rally against the new Arizona immigration law at Federal Plaza in New York, April 27, 2010.                         REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

The law will encourage racial profiling and destroy the relationship between police and immigrant communities.
Although I believe something must be done to control illegal immigration, racial profiling is certainly not the answer. Tensions between citizens and illegal immigrants are already high in this country. Do we expect Arizona police to exercise the utmost in neutrality while trying to enforce this new law? Would many of us demand the same policy if the majority of the illegal immigrants were from Canada, Ireland, Italy, or Russia? Would American citizens rush to take the factory, farm, and menial employment without benefits that would be left vacant by the expulsion of the undocumented workforce? Would the citizens of the U.S.A. happily accept a more expensive grocery bill to combat the immigration problem? My answer to the aforementioned questions, in a word is “NO.”

Putting economics aside, people who support this law because they believe illegal immigrants should be treated as criminals seem to be failing to take into account that this will cause many non-illegal Hispanics to be subjected to police harassment and questioning. We plead that we are a nation of laws, not men. We pride ourselves on our civility and voluntary observation of our laws. But we do not have a good record of maintaining all that civility when our livelihoods are threatened.

One of the most basic tenets of our nation is that the government cannot detain a citizen without reason. Looking like you might not be a citizen is not a reason. Failing to carry documents which identify you as a citizen is not a reason. A lot of Mexican-Americans have served with honor in our military and have made significant contributions to our culture. Suddenly taking away their rights, rights which most of us take totally for granted, is unconstitutional, not to mention that it’s also an insult to the Hispanic race. One of the main reasons we have fought bloody wars in the past is because we didn’t want to live under a government that had the power to detain us just because of what we looked like.

The Declaration of Independence states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…” Does it not hold true for all mankind on earth? If one believes it doesn’t, then one should read no further. If you think it does, then why is immigration such an issue? Our government should allow any individual, whether a citizen or not, to come to the land of the free and try their best to find happiness. Sure, this may take some money out of the economy, but it would also cut the cost of immigration control tremendously, and taxes could be collected from those working in the U.S.

The Republicans in Arizona think that the immigration law protects citizens and abides by the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. But the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution is not only confined to the protection of citizens. It says: “Nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law.” These provisions are universal in their application to all persons within the territorial jurisdiction, without regard to any differences of race, of color, or nationality; and the equal protection of the law is a pledge of the protection of equal laws. Applying this reasoning to the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, it must be concluded that all persons within the territory of the United States are entitled to the protection guaranteed by those amendments, and that even aliens shall not be held to answer for a capital or other infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. “Other Supreme Court cases on First Amendment rights repeatedly refer to the 5th and 14th Amendments to provide guidance based on the principle of “Equal Protection.” In other words, the Equal Protection clause helps extend First Amendment protections for everyone protected by the 5th and 14th Amendments. Since the Court has ruled that illegal aliens are protected by the 5th and 14th Amendments, they also have First Amendment rights.

Until the Republicans in Arizona can demonstrate a basic grasp of the facts behind the Declaration and the Constitution of 1787, they should refrain from messing with the Constitution. Fear is the enemy of the heart and ignorance is bliss, and “in the land of the blind, the man with one eye is always King. . .”. The Republicans in Arizona have proven this truth.

The true criminals here are the American corporations who operate just south of the border, paying slave wages of $1.00 an hour on average. Is that a living wage? It’s no wonder Mexicans are flocking to our borders in the thousands to find a better life. If Mexico forced U.S. corporations to pay Mexicans a decent living wage then perhaps that could help lessen or even eliminate illegal immigration. Until we level the playing field this problem will never go away, it will only make illegal immigrants already here more dangerous, angrier and drive them deeper underground. There is nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal that is cornered.