New Arizona Immigration Law and Mexico
The Mexico Congress is not happy about this new immigration law which will criminalize undocumented workers which has now passed through the Arizona Senate.
The bill would make it a state crime for immigrants not to have an alien registration document and allows police to question people about their immigration status if they suspect they are not legal residents. To some, this is virtually racial profiling.
Those without papers can be put in prison for up to six months and fined up to $2,500.00. At the moment the penalty for undocumented immigrants is deportation.
The bill passed through the state Senate 17 to 11 but Republican Governor, Jan Brewer, can still stall the bill if she refuses to sign it into law. The bill passed through state Senate along party lines, meaning it would be a shock if she refused to sign it.
If this bill is signed, Arizona will have the toughest anti-undocumented workers law in the in the entire United States.
In the Mexican Congress, all major parties came together to demand that the nation’s Foreign Secretary mount a diplomatic protest. Thee legislators are also asking Jan Brewer to reject the bill.
This bill is viewed as an attacked on human dignity and is a huge step backwards and at its heart is racism, some say.
The spokesperson for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, Ricardo Alday, also released a statement indicating he bill could hurt the relations between Arizona and Mexico, and particularly Sonora, in terms of tourism, development, friendship and culture.
The bill has support from John McCain who faces a tough challenge for his party’s nomination from tea-party backed J. D. Hayworth.
There are an estimated 450,000 undocumented workers living in Arizona and they make up approximately 10% of the work force according to the Pew Hispanic Center.
I do no write a politically biased blog but it would appear to me that it might be time for the undocumented workers to come home and try to make a better living here rather than subject themselves to the indignities and possible incarceration and fines that will surely ensue under this bill which they certainly do not deserve. After all, they are just trying to make a better life for their families