A Look Into the Past, Present, and Future.

Below is a summary of the latest NYT article, "Arizona Law Reveals Split in the GOP," followed by some HII predictions for the future of immigration reform! Enjoy!

The Arizona immigration bill has split the GOP: it appears that politicians who have a primary in the near future support the bill (even if they disdained it just days ago), while those who are running unchallenged express hesitation about adopting such stringent measures. We see this repeatedly, whether through Gov. Jan Brewer's passage of the bill (she is up for re-election primaries soon, and had been heavily criticized for raising taxes) or California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman's declining poll numbers after she expressed opposition to the bill. Republicans in states like Nevada and Colorado with growing Hispanic constituencies are reluctant to support the bill, fearing isolating a key demographic.

It appears that states will act upon immigration reform before the federal government does: between January and March, Congressmen in 45 states introduced 1,180 bills and resolutions pertaining to immigration. Polls consistently show that a majority of Americans (even up to 59%) support the Arizona bill. With elections looming, politicians from all states will face pressure to enact strict immigration legislation in order to earn points with voters. Even Karl Rove, ex-adviser to former President George W. Bush, cautions: "I think we need to be very careful about immigration...the rhetoric on all sides ought to be lowered." In the past, pigs would fly before a neo-con recommended restraint on illegal immigration crackdowns—maybe everyone should slow down a bit.



As for what’s going to happen in the future, only time can tell but opinions all over the world have been forming, especially about the contradictory Arizona law. A lot of people believe it to be un-constitutional and racial profiling while a lot of other people think the complete opposite: “it isn’t racism, you’re in our country illegally”. Some people believe that it isn’t a big deal, that the government should just tighten up on immigration laws as well as work on making sure everybody who enters the country MUST have the legal right to live here. Most people believe that as well but they also believe that the new Arizona law is completely wrong and that the state is working on the wrong directions. One opinion is that the states should work on welcoming immigrants and helping them get the right paperwork, visas and such instead of scaring them all off. Also, a lot of people aren’t mad about the law itself, it’s also about the reason the law came into consideration in the first place, about how when a white person dies by the boarder, somebody automatically blames an illegal immigrant. “When people die by the Canadian boarder, do we blame an illegal Canadian immigrant? No.” The question is, was there even evidentiary support that the person was murdered by an illegal immigrant?

The new law in Arizona has angered a lot of people in the US as well as all over the world. It’s also scaring a lot of immigrants with the legal rights to live here and even the Americans who were born here but are of a different race, especially Latinos. The law grants Arizona State to challenge the constitution, side step it and do something that may or may not be constitutional. As for the law staying in effect, who’s to say that it will? With all the controversy surrounding it, people are bound to begin fighting it and it might be revoked. What about the news in Florida? The republican governors who had criticized Arizona’s new law have turned around and mentioned possibly passing one in their state as well. Who’s to say the entire south won’t follow along and then most states will have this possibly unconstitutional law in effect? All this reporter can see is absolute chaos and revolt in the United States. Now all America can do is wait and see.


UPDATES!

**Sarah Palin rallies conservatives in Denver: "We can build the Alaskan pipeline… but we can't build a fence to secure our border? Americans are saying 'Mr. President do your job and secure our border,'" Palin told the crowd. Immigration reform was just one of many platforms she utilized to bash on President Obama on Saturday.

**Wednesday, first lady Michelle Obama visited an elementary school in Maryland to promote healthy eating; during the televised event, a second grader asked why President Obama was “taking everybody away that doesn’t have papers.” The Mexican first lady was also present. When Michelle tried to explain that people need the right papers, the girl went on to blurt “But my mom doesn’t have any papers.” All this when the president happened to be with the Mexican president, discussing immigration reform. (See the clip here: http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/05/little_girl_wonders_what_the_h.html)

**Earlier this week, U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Chicago expressed interest in adding a provision to the immigration bill to give foreign-born domestic partners of U.S. citizens access to the same path to naturalization as heterosexual spouses. This provision was deemed "politically risky" six months ago, but now the importance to the issue of family unity is pressing the matter. Democrats now feel there is a distinct possibility they could make the bill "truly inclusive."