Some Thoughts on Immigration

The House of Representatives in Michigan is currently debating passing HR 4305, the "Support our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act."  The proposed bill would require law enforcement officials to verify the legal presence of any person over 18 if: they have been stopped for another purpose, and "a person who is or should reasonably suspected of being unlawfully present in the United States."

Now, I understand the need for immigration reform.  Undocumented immigration is a huge problem in the United States, and we need to do something to address that issue.  However, that solution should come in the form of Federal immigration reform, not individual states attempting to implement their own immigration laws.

Specifically, when it comes to this proposed Michigan law I have various concerns, but I'll stick to mostly talking about just one of them for now.  My main concern is with the phrase discussing probably cause.  The phrase I quoted above says that an officer must verify the legal presence of a person in the U.S. if the person they stopped is reasonably suspected of being unlawfully present in the United States.  This is where I have a problem.  On what grounds is a police officer supposed to decide if a person is or should be reasonably suspected of being here illegally?  The fact that this proposed bill does not specifically lay out guidelines for what this "reasonable suspicion" makes me worry about how "reasonable suspicion" will be decided.

I've heard far too many people in the U.S. refer to all people of Latino descent far too stereotypically, and at the same time heard far too many people generalize all Latinos as immigrants, assuming the majority of them to be here undocumented.  That leads to the assumption (and I know this is NOT a far-fetched assumption) that so-called "reasonable suspicion" will be brown skin, Latino descent.  Now stop me if I'm wrong, but that sounds like very poorly disguised racism.

Supporters of this bill cite the fact that are an estimated 200,000 undocumented immigrants in Michigan, calling them a drain on the state.  What they fail to recognize, or refuse to admit, is that undocumented immigrants tend to do work that no American is willing to do.  I've gotten so sick of hearing Americans say "immigrants are stealing our jobs," when if you asked that American (employed or unemployed) to do the job the immigrant is doing they 'd get offended.  On the other side of the argument, a recent report by the Michigan League of Human Services estimated that the proposed bill would cause the state to lose $3.8 billion in revenue, and hurt industries such as produce, which draw mostly undocumented workers.

Additionally, the claim of undocumented immigrants being a major drain on the economy is fairly weak.  People complain that undocumented immigrants don't  pay taxes, while receiving medical care and education as well as other public services.  The fact is that undocumented immigrants DO pay taxes, do pay bills, receive far less than adequate medical care, and have absolutely no chance of receiving a tax return or Social Security (which they also pay into).  In short, they pay into almost everything that a documented immigrant or U.S. citizen does, while receiving almost no benefits for it.

Like I said, I agree that we need immigration reform, to address the issue of undocumented immigration.  However, this is NOT the answer.  Responding to a problem by implementing legalized racism is wrong, and we need to avoid committing that grave injustice.