The controversial new immigration law recently enacted in the State of Arizona has already had an impact throughout the nation. Immigrants all over the United States protested in large numbers this past weekend against the “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act.”
Politicians in other states, including Rhode Island, announced their intention to follow the Arizona lead. The controversial law gives law enforcement the power to detain and arrest individuals as “illegal aliens” based on a very low legal standard and has been the cause of great debate. It is clear that it might lead to the profiling of individuals based upon their ethnicity, spoken language or even the color of their skin, and it is already causing widespread fear and distrust in the immigrant communities.
Frustration at the failure of the federal government to act is at the heart of the controversial Arizona law. The frustration of Arizona officials at the failure of the President and Congress to address the volatile issue of immigration reform mirrors the frustration of most Americans. For too long the call for a comprehensive reform of immigration has been ignored by both cowardly Republican and Democratic leaders who are more fearful of the political ramifications of addressing such a hotly debated topic than they are of the serious consequences of a failing immigration system. To most Americans - and even immigrants - it remains clear that the federal government should take up its responsibility to fix the broken system of immigration that has led to the frustration experienced by so many in Arizona and across the country.
We urge the President and Congress to move beyond their partisan politics to find a solution to the immigration situation. We need to intensify our efforts along the border to prevent the ingress of drugs and the flow of arms into Mexico that contribute to the violence and suffering of people living along the border. That is where federal and state governments should be directing their efforts, not on making life more difficult for people who have migrated here out of desperate need and who are trying to better their lives. The response by Arizona leaders is ill-advised and works only to instill fear within the immigrant community.
We stand in solidarity with the Catholic Church in Arizona in opposing this state law that serves only to fuel the fires of racism and xenophobia of a small minority of Americans. The law will only instill fear and trepidation in the immigrant communities across the nation.
President Obama and the Congress should understand that the time to reform immigration is today, not tomorrow. They must cast aside their cowardly partisan considerations and courageously take up the reform of a broken system. The debate surrounding the new Arizona law demonstrates that our nation deserves better leadership than cowardly inaction and avoidance. We need leadership that acts to serve the common good of the nation, not bitter partisanship that serves only the narrow self-interests of political parties and candidates.
