Immigration Act
April 23rd 2010. For some, this date is just another date out of the 365 days. For others, this date made a huge impact in their lives. For me, this date made me start really thinking about my culture as well as what other people think about it. On April 23rd 2010, that was the day that Arizona governor Jan Brewer signed a bill on illegal immigration. This bill was to try to prosecute, identify, and put illegal Mexican immigrants back to their homeland. This meant that if a police officer saw someone that they think looks suspicious and looks illegal, they could approach them and verify their status with other officials. From this statement, I believe that this law should be banned. Reasons I believe this, is because it shouldn’t be only for Hispanics, shouldn’t only be in the state of Arizona, and also because I am half Mexican and this situation is very close to my heart.
To start off, this law is only for Hispanics. Not for any other race. For this, I believe that is discrimination. As an American citizen people should have the right to feel safe in this country. They shouldn’t be scared that a police officer is going to stop them because they look “illegal”. And yes…I know there are still a lot of Illegal Mexican immigrants, but people need to stop thinking that we all are illegal. If people come into America, they want to start a new life and be free. They don’t want to come into this country and be treated the same way they did in their old country. If they want to make a better life, so be it.
Secondly, this law shouldn’t only be in the state of Arizona. I understand that this state is right by the border of Mexico, but why only this state? There are other states likes California, New Mexico, as well as Texas where the Mexico border is too! With this law, I believe it is making people want to leave the state of Arizona rather than being in it. Why would people want other people to leave if it brings more income to them? So that is why I believe that if they are going to keep doing this law, they should at least make it for all the borderline states, not just Arizona.
Lastly, this issue is very close to my heart because I am half Mexican. My dad grew up in Mexico and when he was 19 he went over to America because he wanted to make a better life for himself. He made himself legal, and now he is an American citizen. But what makes me very aggravated, is that if this law happens to go to any other state, police officers will be going around to any Mexican that looks illegal and asking for their documents of their citizenship. That isn’t right at all. You can’t judge a book by its cover, and it certainly wouldn’t be fair if a police officer saw someone that is Mexican and stopped him for a silly reason like that.
All in all, I believe that this law should be banned because that is discrimination. I know several other races that come to America illegally and you don’t see police officers stopping them because they look suspicious. Even President Obama said it himself, “this law is undetermining basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and our communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe.” It’s time for our one nation to come together and start acting like a whole. It hurts me to know that a lot of people think bad things about my race when I’m just like any other person out in the world…Human. I am proud to be an American and this law is making me want to be the opposite.
Works Cited
Archibold, Randal C. "Arizona Enacts Stringet Law on Arizona." Nytimes.com. New York Times, 23 Apr. 2010. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/24/us/politics/24immig.html>.