Sometimes extraordinary actions provide an opportunity for members of society to consider what type of community they want to live in. The debate about how to resolve the issue of millions of people without documentation living, working and contributing to our community is at the top of the list of peoples concerns in Arizona and is tied directly to the economic prosperity in Arizona .
Many people question my rational for taking on the issue of immigration directly - my response: "It directly impacts our community and state everyday. Our economic prosperity depends on resolving the legitimate concerns and ignoring it through inaction or silence does not contribute to finding solutions. It is the absolute responsibility of a representative to be part of the solution."
There is not one silver bullet solution and the discussion has been contaminated with excessive rhetoric and fear. I want to thank Robert Robb for demonstrating the courage of a strong leader for a rational perspective to the concerns.
Here is a portion of his article:
On April 18th, AZ Republic Columnist Robert Robb wrote:Our society has made a serious mistake enacting a body of laws governing individual behavior that is too expansive to be universally enforced. In fact, there are some laws, for example those dealing with drug use, that society does not want to be universally enforced.
This gives law enforcement enormous discretion over which laws to enforce against whom. This discretion is the most dangerous power in American civil society today.
Part of the American creed is that people are to be treated alike by government irrespective of standing or status. It is also part of the American creed that we are to be protected from the unwarranted attention of the government.
Arpaio's sweeps aren't to suppress any unlawful activity other than illegal immigration. There has not been an epidemic of bad driving in poor Latino neighborhoods that threatens public safety.
Instead, Arpaio is invading poor Latino neighborhoods and vigorously enforcing laws, primarily traffic laws, that are ordinarily ignored or lightly enforced, for the actual purpose of catching illegal immigrants.
Now, it is certainly true that poor Latino neighborhoods are where illegal immigrants in Arizona are likely to be found. However, a probability analysis is not a substitute for the probable cause required for the rule of law to prevail. Probable cause requires specific information about specific offenses committed by specific suspects.
In short, lawful residents who happened to be poor and Latino are being subjected to unwarranted attention from government because of their status. The fact that a few illegals are also found in the process doesn't justify the gross abuse of discretion and the assault on the American creed involved. We are a rules-based society not given to the proposition that the end justifies the means.
