Arizona’s Immigration Law an Affront to Civil Rights and Will Make State Detroit of the Desert

The recent passage of a bill slated to curb the rate of illegal immigration into the state of Arizona has caused a national uproar, mainly among Hispanics living in America. The law has been described by some as reminiscent of the Jim Crow era in America and Hitler’s Nazi Germany. Arizona’s new immigration law, signed last week by Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, requires that police officers to ask people for identification papers if they have “reasonable suspicion” to believe that someone is an undocumented immigrant. This means that the only standard is that one looks like an illegal immigrant.

As a person of African descent whose ancestors were brought to these shore without permission, I feel that I have no bone in this fight. However, I also feel that who better to proffer a critical overview from both sides of the coin. I understand the position of Obama, that this bill both takes on a responsibility of the federal government as well as violates civil rights via the Civil Rights Act of 1984 and racial profiling clause in the 14^th Amendment. I also understand the opposite position, which asserts that the federal government has done nothing to aggressively deal with illegal immigration, which in itself is an issue of national security. Moreover, they have yet to enforce strigently real efforts to place sanctions and fiats on U.S. companies and corporations that hire illegal immigrants.

With that said, Arizona is eventually going to regret this bill from an economic perspective. The economic contribution of illegal immigration is crucial to our economy.

First, the cost of deporting illegals will be a major shock to the economy because of the instant loss of illegal labor. Not to mention they tend to take jobs in labor-scarce regions that many Americans often frown upon. Not to mention a study conducted by the Center for Immigration Studies estimates that illegal immigrants contribute $7 billion a year to Social Security,

Although estimates of between 30 to 37 percent of Arizona’s GDP is provided by illegal immigrants, we can look at a 2009 study by the Immigration Policy Center on the state of Ohio that reported removing all illegal immigrants in the state would cost the state around $4 billion in total expenditures and $1.8 billion in economic output.

Arizona has opened a can of worms, not only will they lose valuable revenue if the have it their way, but they also risk a loss of potential tourists to the state. Add to that a foreclosure rate over 10 percent (second highest in the U.S.), an already slow economic recovery for the state, and a likely budget deficit of $150 million for the current fiscal year, and Arizona just may become another Detroit, only located in the desert.

–torrance t. stephens, ph.d.
Chief Behavioral Scientist, CEO
Braincellinc