A conservative state representative who has proposed several immigration-related bills says Ohio needs to follow Arizona's lead and pass a real crackdown on undocumented workers. Statehouse correspondent Karen Kasler reports.
That representative is Courtney Combs, a state rep from Fairfield, Oh. His argument? Too many illegals are bringing drugs into Ohio. His response to concerns about profiling? Police don't have time to make that a problem.
Now I'm quite sure Mr. Combs is just thumping the drum of his fellow Republicans and claiming that racism is justified if it protects our jobs and prevents illegal aliens from reaping the benefits or out citizenry, but his argument has two huge flaws in my opinion.
First, police have plenty of time to profile suspects, especially if the law dictates that policy. Racial profiling is not about having the time to seek out brown people and find charges to convict them on. It's about ordinary routine becoming tainted with racism. If a police officer is at a speed trap and sees a person or persons that seem to match a particular category, they are more likely to let the white fella go and stop the brown skinned one. Adding people who appear to be Mexican is just adding to the problem, not solving it. This is already a problem. Racial profiling happens everyday intentionally or not. So to actually make laws that support its practice is going backwards.
Look, if you commit a crime, and you're an illegal alien, then I think it falls within the ordinary scope of good police work to discover that issue and cite that person. We don't need to create additional laws that circumvent our privacy as individuals and mandate that police should follow standards that are in fact racially biased.
The other crux in this argument is the drug war crap. This is clearly rhetoric to scare people that don't know any better into believing there is some huge problem that this bullshit will somehow solve. the drug war is never going to be won. It's never going to be won because citizens of this country support it regularly. In fact, a large amount of support comes from the federal government itself... but that's another argument. In Ohio, there are just as much home grown illegal product as is coming in from outside sources. And we're not near the Mexican border kids. I would bet that drugs that originated in Mexico or South America are less likely to be transported by illegal aliens this far north when there are a large number of citizens of this country to continue the delivery without concern. Also, THIS ISN'T THE PROBLEM WITH IMMIGRATION!
Immigration issues stem from several areas, the least of which is drug related in my opinion. The issue of affecting our economy in the way of untaxed labor and labor abuse is more at issue here and is the central issue that should be the target of immigration reform.
We were talking at lunch about this and a buddy mentioned a company in Ca that was found to be run by and exclusively employed illegal aliens. As soon as the company closed, it was immediately reopened by citizens that continued the business by hiring Americans. If this proves anything, it proves the previous debate about illegals doing jobs that Americans don't want and won't do. The fact is, in this economy, jobs are a major issue. And I assure you that someone without a job would happily work in place of an illegal immigrant in almost any arena based in today's situation.
Good immigration reform would help people that want to work in U.S. get the paperwork necessary to do so and allow the documentation so that we can all play the same game. Doing racially motivated action that prevents people of color from living as citizens comfortably is not just bad politics, it's just plain bad in general. No American should feel obligated to carry their birth certificate everywhere they go and no officer should feel it necessary to prove the citizenship of every person they see. It's just opening the door for abuse and unjust action on the part of authority that we should be growing to trust, not growing to fear.
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