Boiling point (or, If it were the other way around)

The opening sentence in a recent report from the Associated Press made a convoluted situation more clear: "The frustration had been building for years in Arizona with every drug-related kidnapping, every home invasion, every 'safe house' discovered crammed with illegal immigrants from Mexico."

The murder last month of an Arizona rancher by an illegal alien connected to the Mexican drug trade renewed concerns that the violence south of the border would yet again spill onto American soil.  Additionally, election year anxieties from both Governor Jan Brewer and Senator John McCain per an increasingly restless Copper State electorate proved the deciding factor in the passage of Arizona Immigration Law SB 1070, also known as the more catchy Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act.

The dismay felt by the majority of Arizonians is not without merit, although Princeton political scientist Douglas Massey (a noted Liberal) said that the number of illegal immigrants has dropped by 100,000 in Arizona in just the last year.  The total has also fallen from 12.6 million nationally in 2008 to 10.8 million in 2009.  Still, Rasmussen stated yesterday that "76% [of Arizona residents] say it is more important to gain control of the border than it is to legalize the status of undocumented workers.  Only 19% believe it is more important to legalize the status of undocumented workers already in the country.  These views, too, are consistent with national preferences." [emphasis added]

Despite efforts to explain that the bill does not constitute racial profiling, President Obama nevertheless referred to SB 1070 as "misguided," adding his belief that the bill would "undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and our communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe."

Nicely said, as usual.  But considering that Obama is from the new school of social justice (i.e., revenge), it is safe to assume that the current administration -- not so much unlike the previous one -- never intended to act upon the border situation in any case.  And for the doubters, do not forget that Obama began his meteoric rise in a city that named one of its centers of education as Social Justice High School (3120 South Kostner Avenue, Chicago, IL 60623; Tel: 773-535-4300).

Capital Hill has treated this issue like a political hot potato for years -- mostly from a concern of being labeled, falsely or otherwise.  Thus because a half-million illegal immigrants dropping anchor in a single State barely registered on anyone's radar (including Senator John McCain's), Arizona lawmakers were essentially forced to do something.

Anyone naive enough to think that Mexican authorities, if placed in a similar position, would do anything less than what Arizona legislators set out to accomplish should consider the position of the ordinary citizen torn between taking matters into their own hands or supporting those who play politics with national security by pandering to the seemingly downtrodden while demonizing the innocent and politicizing the situation altogether.

While Al Sharpton is promising to protest against SB 1070, it is interesting to note the peaceful protests of the oft-maligned Tea Parties in stark contrast to the violence spawned by a single pro-illegal immigrant rally in Phoenix just the other day.  As if we are being told that America is under some moral obligation to swing the doors wide open, one might also assume the Mexican populace would be just as tolerant if such an issue was turned the other way around.