There is much blather these days about Arizona's new immigration law. According to some accounts it is practically turning Arizona into a police state where any Latino can be stopped, questioned and demanded to "show his papers." Add to this the many hazards of driving while black and being strip searched while Muslim and you have a veritable stew of unwelcome intrusions into the private lives of, well, just about everybody. All of a sudden there is a grave concern over civil rights.
But the concern for civil rights has to be balanced with a concern for public safety. Illegal immigration is inevitably tied in with the drug wars on the border and gang violence in the inner cities, not to mention the unfairness to legal immigrants and the violation of US laws. Terrorism is inevitably tied to the Muslim religion since they have been the primary source of it including the 9/11 fly-in at the World Trade Center. Does this make every Latino a drug runner and every Muslim a terrorist? Of course not. Any more than it makes every black male a pimp. Remember one of the biggest terrorist acts on US soil was the bombing of the Oklahoma Federal building by Timothy McVeigh, a white European descended American citizen. However, I would venture to say that the preponderance of illegal immigrants are Hispanic, the preponderance of terrorists are Muslims and the preponderance of convicted criminals are black. I hope this doen't make me a racist. It's just facing facts.
So as long as the police abide by acceptable procedures, I have no problem with their IDing people in the normal course of their duties. Of course, proper ID should be issued to everyone. That's the state's and the country's responsibility. And there should be guidelines for the police about the conditions under which they can stop anyone. Why shouldn't they be the same as the conditions under which they can stop someone suspected of criminal behaviour? I don't hear anyone complaining that the apprehension of criminals is turning Arizona or the US into a police state. With proper guidelines citizens need not fear that they are losing their civil rights or that Arizona or the US is becoming a police state.
We can no longer afford the luxury of having people in the US walking around without proper ID. That went out the window with the advent of terrorism. If there had been proper checking on the expiration of student visas and those who had overstayed them, 9/11 would never have happened. Also some citizen vigilence regarding flight lessons by non-citizens who weren't interested in learning how to land planes wouldn't have represented government intrusion into people's civil rights in my opinion. Under certain conditions everyone should be willing and able to show ID. Every time the police stop someone now, they demand ID and run it through their computer to do a criminal background check. Why would it be any more onerous to the person who has been stopped presumably under routine and reasonable guidelines to have his background checked for citizenship at the same time? "Show me your papers" can be replaced by "Show me your ID" as long as the state or country provides one and doesn't make people haul their birth certificate around. And checking everyone's ID for citizenship eliminates profiling. You don't want a national ID card? Then haul your birth certificate if you feel that's preferable. And remember Timothy McVeigh was apprehended at a routine traffic stop.
It's high time for the US to have a counterfeit-proof national ID card. You have to balance the problems caused by criminals, terrorists and yes, illegals, with everyone's civil rights, and this balance has to be manifested in an intelligent way, but the increased threats from these quarters demand it. It can be done in such a way as to minimize inconveniences and intrusions to law abiding, legal citizens, non-citizens in the country legally, and non-terrorists, but in an age where crime, terrorism and illegal entry into the US are threats to the welfare of average citizens, precautionary measures need to be taken.
Homeland Security in all its aspects should be stepped up, and military adventurism abroad should be stepped down. As the "Defense" budget is reduced (actually it's the military industrial fantasy defense budget), the budget for Homeland Security should be increased. Border and port protection should predominate over military adventurism abroad. Defensive procedures should take the place of offensive wars on foreign soil. Intelligence operations should be the main line of defense against domestic and foreign enemies. Intelligence operations have detected and foiled numerous attempts at terrorism on American soil and abroad.
Terorists, unfortunately, are just as likely to emanate from American as foreign soil. They are just as likely to be American citizens as non-citizens. For all these reasons, a national ID card is entirely appropriate. But as the government goes about its business of protecting average, law abiding Americans, it is just as important that it not be overbearing in the process. Efforts at protecting the American people should not infringe on the civil rights of the American people or cause them undue inconvenience. We are already inconvenienced to an extent by the airport check-in procedure and security checks at public events. Most Americans accept this as necessary and reasonable for their protection. They also should accept other reasonable procedures to weed out criminals, terrorists and illegal immigrants. Legal immigration should proceed and be expedited under reasonable guidelines and procedures while at the same time stopping illegal immigration in its tracks.
