Arizona does not stand alone. With a growing number of states seriously considering or planning for measures similar to Arizona’s to combat illegal immigration, it’s time Democrats take this seriously. Simply calling Republicans and anyone else who supports such measures “racist” is not going be effective, and in fact is proving quite ineffective.
The main sticking point for so many in terms of having a serious, factual discussion of the issue is the Democrats’ persistent refusal to recognize the clear difference between “immigrants” and “illegal immigrants” in the obvious hope that the public will not know the difference.
Using such phrases as “We all descend from immigrants” has no place in the debate. Yes, we all know we descend from immigrants and many families pass down from generation to generation stories of how our ancestors arrived in America and worked hard to become citizens. Most of us know someone who has gone through, or is going through, the legal immigration and naturalization process. It is a far cry from someone sneaking into the country and taking advantage of services paid for by U.S. taxpayers. To confuse those two groups is an insult and just plain wrong.
Democrats who continue to use this ruse should be called out on it each and every time they attempt to morph law-abiding Americans and Americans-to-be with people purposefully breaking the law and taking advantage of our generous country. Maybe then we can begin to have a more honest debate that results in protecting our porous borders and being fair to those who are here in full compliance with and with respect for U.S. laws.