That's an interesting thought, Cerin.
Hey, does anyone know if it is possible to get a driver's license if you are not a legal citizen? It's been so long since I got a driver's license, I can't remember. Do you have to show your birth certificate, etc.? (I do have a reason for the question, btw...
)
I just registered my daughter for high school and had to produce a copy of her birth certificate, which completely confuses me, because I know there are many children in the public school system who are illegal immigrants. How do they manage to get in if they don't have "paperwork"? My daughter couldn't have.
I think my problem overall is I don't understand how the system works now, and how illegals are so easily integrated into our country. Wasn't there some point in the past in which illegals were asked to produce papers, and couldn't? Is the difference now that this new law is in place that without papers, more questions are asked than before, and possibly deportation will follow?
Overall, though, as the lone Arizonan here on the board, I have to say... yikes. I have so many friends who are brown... I was at work today with two Mexicans, an Indian (from India), a Navaho, an Iraqi, a girl from Bangladesh, and a Guatemalan, and thought: they could all be pulled over because of the way they LOOK. That is just CRAZY. I feel embarrassed to be a white freckly redhead! As if I am so obviously law abiding, and they are not so obviously law abiding. Because of... the way we happen to look. Bizarre.
Believe me, I would love to own the generally beautiful skin of any of them rather than my own pale mess. (I've never thought my skin was anything other than crap... I hate the white and the freckles!!) That Guatemalan girl has GORGEOUS, flawless skin, and I absolutely am envious to the bone. She's beautiful, and not a speck of makeup anywhere. She truly has perfect skin, and I SO don't...
...except I know my freckles keep me insured against potential random harrassment by the police. That's just...
weird. I'm not sure how else to say it. Like something out of a bad movie. Wrong. Strange. Breathtakingly bizarre.
I don't think the law will stand as signed, and for this I am grateful. However, it might have done a good deed: even if it survives a very short life it has definitely brought the problem of illegal immigration to the national eye-level, and I think that's a good thing. The federal government REALLY needs to address this.
The boycott stuff makes me sad... a lot of those who seek those low-paying jobs work in the tourist industry... housekeeping in hotels, groundskeeping, etc. It's sad that people trying to make a statement by boycotting Arizona hotels (and I understand the sentiment of the gesture, I do) might just be sandbagging those poor folks who are struggling so hard to get by.
By the way, Arizona iced tea is made in New York. Drink away.
"What do you fear, lady?" Aragorn asked.
"A cage," Éowyn said. "To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King