Becoming an Informed Voter Part 7: Expect Open Borders

I have lived in Phoenix Arizona since 1964 with the exception of one year in Seattle.  During that time I have seen the demographics of the city change.  In 1964, the city’s population was growing because of people moving there from the east and Midwest.  That included my family and me who moved here from Ohio.  The main reason for people moving here was the nice weather in the winter.  Okay the summers are hot but we have air conditioning and we can travel north a couple of hours to be in cooler weather.  Today that is no longer the case.  Today there is an influx of people moving into Arizona from the south because the border with Mexico is wide open. 

Mexico is a third world country and I can understand why someone living there might look over the border to the United States and want to come here.  I am not opposed to people seeking opportunities to better themselves but we live in a country governed by the rule of law and therefore we expect people coming here to abide by our laws, including our immigration laws. 

This was the intent of Arizona Senate bill 1070.  In section 1 of the legislation it says the following “The legislature finds that there is a compelling interest in the cooperative enforcement of federal immigration laws throughout all of Arizona.  The legislature declares that the intent of this act is to make attrition through enforcement the public policy of all state and local government agencies in Arizona.  The provisions of this act are intended to work together to discourage and deter the unlawful entry and presence of aliens and economic activity by persons unlawfully present in the United States.” (1)

All the State of Arizona was trying to do is assist the Federal Government in the enforcement of its existing immigration laws.  You would think that the Feds would be appreciative of the help but not the Obama Administration.  Instead of working with the state, they chose to sue the state.  This lawsuit made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme court where the court struck down 3 of 4 parts of the legislation.  The only portion the Supreme Court upheld was Section 2(B), which gives law enforcement permission to check the immigration status of someone they suspect may be in the country illegally but they must first have the person lawfully in custody.  This means they cannot just pull someone over to check their immigration status but must first detain him or her for some other crime or violation.  (1) (2) 

The Supreme Court, however, struck down sections 6, 3, and 5 (C).  Section 6 allows local law enforcement to make warrantless arrests of those suspected to be illegally in the country and then turning them over to federal immigration officials. This is similar to what law enforcement officers already do when they arrest someone for possession of illegal drugs and turn them over to the DEA Section 3 made it illegal for illegal immigrants to fail to carry alien registration documentation.  Section 5 (C) made it illegal for aliens to knowingly apply for, solicit, or do work in Arizona.  In striking down these portions of the legislation, the Supreme Court made it almost impossible for local law enforcement to enforce the law. 

The behavior of the Obama administration in this instance shows us that they have no desire to secure our borders.  They politically see the growing population of Hispanics and want to secure their votes.  I understand that illegal immigrants cannot vote but I believe that some do by using stolen identification.  This is why Arizona also instituted a law requiring a photo ID to vote but that is a topic for another posting.  However, the illegals have families legally in the country and Obama believes that leaving the border open will secure their votes. 

The problem with a wide-open border is that more than just Hispanics are free to enter the country.  The recent attacks on our embassies on 9/11 show that there is still radical Islamists who want to murder our citizens.  With a wide-open border to our south, we cannot be sure they are not already coming over our borders and plotting another attack on our citizens on our soil.  Mitt Romney is not anti-immigration he is anti-illegal immigration.  He wants to fix the immigration system to make it easier for those wanting to come to our country legally and become productive members of our society.  However, he also wants to secure our borders to prevent violent cartel members or terrorists from coming into our country (3)

Secure borders are an essential part of our national security.  We need a President that will make border security a priority.  We need a President who instead of suing a state wanting to cooperate with Federal Border Patrol, will partner with them and secure our borders.  It is obvious that Obama will continue his open border policy exposing our country to violent drug cartels and terrorism.  Mitt Romney has promised to work to improve the legal immigration process while securing our borders. 

If you are interested in the security of our nation, the choice is obvious.  Vote for Mitt Romney

1. Forty-ninth Senate of The State of Arizona. Senate Bill 1070. www.azleg.gov. [Online] Senate of the State of Arizona. [Cited: September 2012, 2012.] http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf.

2. Shapiro, Ben. AZ IMMIGRATION DECISION DISASTER FOR AMERICANS, WIN FOR OBAMA. breitbart.com. [Online] Brietbart.com, June 25, 2012. [Cited: June 26, 2012.] http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/06/25/AZ-immigration-decision-disaster-for-conservatives-states.

3. Mitt Romney for President. Immigration. www.mittromney.com. [Online] Mitt Romney for President. [Cited: September 25, 2012.] http://www.mittromney.com/issues/immigration.