I was in Arizona and Southern California recently to visit family. I was driving on Interstate 8 from just south of Phoenix to San Diego. In the course of that trip, I encountered three checkpoints on the interstate highway that stopped every car and checked every vehicle to some degree. The folks staffing the checkpoints were Border Patrol officers. They were looking for illegal aliens. I was driving a pick-up truck with a canopy top with windows. They could see inside the cab or in the back if they bothered to look, but they didn’t. They didn’t say anything as I approached the checkpoint other than “Have a nice day.”
There was major man-power at each of these checkpoints looking for illegal aliens.
There have been stories told about border patrol checkpoints on US Highway 101 near Forks in our state; Immigration authorities looking for illegal aliens.
Are they looking for anything else? Can they search my vehicle without my consent?
If they find a stash of cash in a vehicle will they detain a driver and vehicle? Do they interact with state or local law enforcement agencies if they find criminals other than those immigration related?
So what tools do these folks use to identify illegal aliens? What does an illegal alien look like?
Eugene Robinson’s column in Tuesday’s Everett Herald characterized the Arizona immigration law as “draconian” and “abomination”. It was “racist, arbitrary, oppressive, mean spirited and unjust.” Robinson said that the only good thing about it was the fact that its excessiveness may well make it unconstitutional.
As I understand it, the Arizona law requires that in the course of investigating a police related matter, participants are required to show adequate identification to establish legal residency in the state or country.
If the border patrol stops a car in Phoenix looking for illegal aliens, aren’t they looking for Mexicans? The border patrol doesn’t need probable cause to stop you, do they?
As a business owner, I am required to gather information from prospective employees that establish their citizenship or right to work if they are not citizens. If they don’t have proper documents, I cannot hire them. I am subject to penalties if I fail to secure those documents before hiring anyone.
There is a Department of Motor Vehicles in every state that collects a fee from every applicant that can pass a test, even when the test has to be given a foreign language, issues a license to drive a car without proof of insurance and is not subject to the same requirements I am as a private business owner to demand proof of citizenship or right to be in the country legally before receiving a license. And for those folks that are not citizens, they receive the same license that I do. Why don’t we have a provisional license for aliens?
I, as a private business owner may be subject to civil or criminal penalty for not doing the job we would expect the government to do.
Why is it that the police are “racist, arbitrary, oppressive, mean spirited and unjust” if they demand that proof of citizenship but before I give a person a job or rent him a place to live I am required to do so?
I don’t believe we need a national identification card, but we do need state identity systems that talk to each other and have common standards that make the information easy to share.
We need a system that is at least as effective as other government programs that shoulders the burden of establishing legal residency rather than punishing private business owners. For public agencies that render services paid with public dollars, we need to tie provision of services to only citizens with that state ID card. Schools, medical services and social services are examples.
As an employer or landlord, presentation of a state card should adequately establish legal right to work or rent.
No Loss for Words 
Vigilance and Dedication
by Steve DanaThis election year marks the first time in recent history where mainstream Americans have actually felt the sense of urgency to change government many of us have had for many years. Loss of homes, jobs and savings will do that.
Federal bail-outs for fat cats at the expense of mainstream Americans highlight the corruptness of a system out of control. The failure of either political party to demonstrate restraint in spending has eroded confidence that they are capable of doing so. Americans have seen their government collecting and spending record levels of tax dollars with no end in sight with little consideration to the return on our investment.
“Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist.” – Edmund Burke
Failure to follow the Constitution is even more discouraging.
The fact that citizens had faith that their elected officials shared their values lulled them into a false sense of security. Inattention allowed the government to steadily erode our liberty and our property rights, but more importantly government has been undermined by questionable ethics and morality and certainly a lack of religious faith.
The idea that the government can solve all our problems has conned us into allowing government to take over our lives. The “welfare state” is on the threshold of enslaving our country.
“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.” – Alexis de Tocqueville
Bureaucracies have mushroomed at every level of government in the name of progress. At the same time, you have to wonder what contribution those bureaucracies make to the quality of service or product delivered. What contribution does the Department of Education make to the quality of education? How does the Department of Health and Human Services improve your health? How about the Departments of Energy, Interior or Agriculture? The list goes on and on. The bureaucracies consume billions and billions of our tax dollars without actually delivering a quantifiable service to any of us. Certainly these federal agencies are guilty, but state versions are no less so.
“Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.” – Alexis de Tocqueville
The downturn in the economy has been devastating to many, but in spite of the damage done the resultant exposure of flaws in government systems, policies and laws may turn out to be a rare opportunity to redefine government priorities both at a national and state level. We can re-establish public policy based upon Conservative values widely shared by most Americans rather than liberal progressive values that are bankrupting our country stripping away our American identity. In this case the lesson we must learn is that without vigilance and dedication to preserving our liberty on an everyday basis, our liberty is at risk.
“But what is liberty without wisdom, and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint.” – Edmund Burke
We need to have elected officials who are proud to be Americans and are willing to fight for the Constitution of the United States.
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” – Ronald Reagan
We have the opportunity in this election cycle to change our representatives to more accurately reflect the values of most Americans; values like smaller government and lowering the federal deficit, but more importantly values of a moral and ethical government guided by our faith in God regardless of religion.
“The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.” – Alexis de Tocqueville
Separation of church and state does not mean elimination of faith as a driving force of our government.
“Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.” – Ronald Reagan
At the end of the day, Vigilance by every citizen will be the only protection for the American way of life as visualized by the founders.
“All that’s necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.” – Edmund Burke
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