Arizona immigration law

I hate to hammer away at Arizona, but I’ve been hearing many Arizonans defend this new immigration law for the past week. Most of the comments are along the lines of, “If you had to deal with the huge immigration problem we’re dealing with, you’d agree with this law”.

No I wouldn’t. And let me share some facts with you, for why I wouldn’t.

Let’s start with the fact that Arizona has the 6th largest illegal immigrant population in the country. California has seven times the number of illegal immigrants that Arizona has, putting it on top of the list. Texas comes in next with three times Arizona’s illegal immigrant population. New York is next with double Arizona’s number. Illinois has 30% more illegal immigrants than Arizona. And just above Arizona is Florida, with roughly 25% more illegal immigrants than Arizona.

Four out of the five states that have more immigrants than Arizona are donor states meaning that, they get less money back from the federal government than they pay in. CA and NY get back 79 cents for every dollar they pay in federal taxes. IL gets back 73 cents for every dollar it pays. TX gets back 94 cents for every dollar it pays in federal taxes.

Arizona is a recipient state. It gets $1.30 for every dollar it pays in federal taxes.

Illegal immigrants are not destroying your economy. If they were, California would be fucked. The fact of the matter is, that California has the 8th largest economy in the world. Not in the country, but in the world.

In fact if you look at GDP by state, you’ll notice that the states that top the list are familiar. The top five (in order) are CA, NY, TX, FL, and IL.

I want to be very clear in what I’m saying here. I am not suggesting that the high number of illegal immigrants is the reason why the top producing states are on top. There are obviously a number of factors involved, not the least of which is resources.

But I am saying that illegal immigrants definitely are not destroying your economy. There is absolutely no empirical evidence to suggest otherwise.

All of that crap that you hear about what illegal immigrants are costing each state are completely unsubstantiated. There’s no way to look at the data that I just gave you, while still holding onto that myth. Again, California would be fucked if that were the case. If those assertions were even remotely true, then the illegal immigrant population would be draining the states with the top GDP in the country. They’re not.

As an aside, Arizona’s illegal immigration population has dropped by 7% in the past two years. Why? It’s the economy, stupid! When the economy tanked, jobs dried up for everyone. When the jobs went away, so did the illegal immigrants.

This supports my earlier post about how to deal with illegal immigration if you’re really serious about ending it. If we didn’t have eager employers, we wouldn’t have hungry illegals.

So please Arizonans, don’t hate the playa, hate the game.

I’m sure everyone is familiar with the new Arizona immigration law by now. You know, the law that requires roughly three million US citizens of Hispanic decent living in Arizona to keep their proof of residency or citizenship with them at all times. I’m sure that everyone is aware that this law was passed by republicans in the Arizona legislature and signed into law by the republican Governor of Arizona.

What you may not know, is that ten other states with republican legislatures are considering passing very similar “show your papers” laws.

Republican legislatures in Oklahoma just passed a charming abortion law. It’s charming in that, a doctor can no longer be held liable for NOT telling a pregnant woman that her fetus has debilitating birth defects. You read that correctly, a doctor in Oklahoma is not required to tell an expectant woman that her fetus will be born with a condition that ensures that the child will never live a life without constant care. So when a doctor tells a woman that everything is perfect with her pregnancy, she really has no reason NOT to spend the next 8 months wondering if her baby is going to be healthy. But don’t worry, there’s no reason to believe that stress is detrimental to a pregnant woman or her fetus.

I haven’t gotten to the disgusting part of this new law yet so brace yourselves. A woman that wants to get an abortion in Oklahoma is now required to have a vaginal ultrasound, during which the doctor is required to describe the heart, limbs, and organs of the fetus to the woman. And if you’re wondering NO, there are no provisions to exempt victims of rape or incest from this requirement. As Randi Rhodes put it, why stop there? Why not require that giant balloons that read “it’s a boy!” be in the room? Why not have the baby shower during the procedure? The nurse can read from a book of baby names, it will be fabulous!

I guess that the reasoning here is that if a woman wants an abortion, it’s obvious that she hasn’t thought it through. A vaginal ultrasound wherein the doctor describes the fetus to the pregnant woman will help her to make a sound, intellectual decision, based on what would be in the best interest of her and the child.

I have to wonder what’s next? Will we restrict freedom of religion? You can choose to be Jewish or Muslim, but only after having spent a year at a Catholic seminary.

All of this is brought to you by the party of small government. Why do we still buy into this charade that republicans stand for small government? The party that brought us warrantless wiretapping and electronic surveillance on anyone they choose, stands for small government?

Let me ask you a question. Which of these scenarios feels like big government to you;

Government regulators preventing big banks from trading derivatives with money they don’t have

OR

A camera forced into your vagina?

How about having to produce a birth certificate to a police officer while going to get money out of an ATM? Does that feel like big government?

The paradox that keeps being thrown at us about what our political parties are must stop! It’s complete bullshit, and we need to stop letting people get away with it.

Republicans aren’t against big government in any way that serves the American people well.

I don’t know what the fuck democrats are for anymore, but I do know that they have never advocated for shoving a camera in my vagina, while creating a scene that should be in a Freddy Kreuger movie. And they’ve never insisted that I produce my passport, just because an illegal immigrant is working for pennies in order to increase the profits of their contributors.

When you join a party that habitually takes rights away from its citizens based on their morality, it won’t be long before they come for you.

Marco Rubio is starting to figure this out. He recently came out (meekly, but still) against the Arizona immigration bill. Why? Because his parents are Cuban immigrants. In Rubio’s defense, he did the right thing on this issue. He could have gone the Michelle Malkin route. Little background on Michelle – her name isn’t Michelle. It’s nee Maglalang. She was born as what she would affectionately refer to, as an anchor baby. Her parents came her on work training Visas while her mother was pregnant. So while she is a natural born citizen, her parents were not. This means that Duncan Hunter would have her deported if he had his way. She has spent her entire career railing against immigrants. She obviously hates herself, and her parents for doing what they had to do to give her a better life. I suppose we should take comfort in knowing that Marco Rubio could be much more loathsome than he is. He does manage to do the right thing when it hits close enough to home. Now he’s being attacked by some, for not being hateful and ignorant enough.

I refuse to ever let anyone tell me that republicans are the party of small government again. We need to stop letting them frame themselves this way.

Immigration Fun Facts

Small Government, My Ass!