Thoughts on the Arizona Immigration Law

By Adonal Foyle

On April 23, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law legislation that would make it a crime for an immigrant to be in Arizona without carrying legal documents. Effective July 28, state law enforcement will be allowed to ask for documents from anyone who looks like they may be an illegal immigrant. This law has received major backlash with civil rights activists saying this law will promote racial profiling.

I should be perfectly clear that the state of Arizona has the right to protect the US-Mexican border. Having said that, I think the problem with this piece of legislation is that when you talk about how to determine if someone "looks" like an illegal immigrant, it raises many questions. How are you going to define an illegal immigrant? There's something unsettling about someone having the choice of deciding who he thinks is an American citizen and who he thinks he needs to ask for documentation. Profiling of any kind cannot be allowed to exist in our country at any level.

This kind of attitude taken toward immigration puts a serious damper on what we celebrate most of all in this country - which is diversity and the fact that we are a country of immigrants.

The Phoenix Suns wore their "Los Suns" jersey to show support of not only the Latin community, but other minority groups in Arizona. From what I heard, the San Antonio Spurs want to wear their "Los Spurs" jerseys as well when they go back home. It's always tough to mix sports with politics, but I was so glad to see the Suns and Spurs take a stand. The NBA is a global community. We have players from all walks of life playing this game and it is now a global phenomenon. What Phoenix is doing, in a small but effective way, is saying we have players on this team from different parts of the world, we do not support this law and there are other ways to protect our security rather than overtly profiling people. The Suns are showing solidarity for all minorities.

The issue of immigration is a national political problem. One of the disappointments is being led to believe that now that Health Care Reform has passed, our nation has decided it is no longer politically feasible to have Immigration Reform. The issue has now been placed in the backburner and this is something we, as a nation, must face head-on. This is an opportunity for President Obama as well as Congress to come together and figure out a way how we can deal with immigration once and for all. I fear that other states will follow suit with what Arizona is doing, so there needs to be Immigration Reform at a national level. Otherwise, other states will do a piecemeal effort and try to take matters into their own hands.

I believe there is a capacity to work everything out. It's just up to our government to come to the table and get it done. And it can't be about politics. If there's ever a time to rise above politics and get something done for the good of this great nation, this is the time. Immigration has been a big issue for so many years. It's very divisive and it affects so many aspects of our society, it must be dealt with swiftly.

- Adonal