OPINION:
In the absence of any real border enforcement by Fedzilla and after the emergency of the recent murder of rancher Robert Krentz, Arizonans rightfully took matters into their own hands and passed a law allowing Arizona cops to demand immigration papers from people they stop.
Good for Arizona. Other states, especially border states, should follow its lead. In short, Arizona’s new law makes it a crime to be in Arizona illegally. It’s 2010 - Good morning, America! Those people who can’t produce documentation proving they are in the country legally can be jailed up to six months and fined $2,500.
Of course, the pro-illegal-immigration crowd is going berserk that Arizona has done such a common-sense thing. These Democratic numskulls see any immigration reform measures that seek to protect our border as a threat to their future political base. You would have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to see that the grand plan of the Democrats is to entrap illegal immigrants by giving them legal status and then enslave and destroy them with numerous Fedzilla handouts and programs.
Pro-illegal-immigration weasels are protesting and yammering that this new law will lead to profiling. President Obama has weighed in and asked the Justice Department to review Arizona’s new law to see if it is legal.
Unbelievably, while our borders are largely open and being overrun, the Obama administration recently lectured Israel about expanding its communities just a few feet on land that arguably is its to expand upon.
While I applaud Arizona for its bold and brave new law, putting illegals in jail is the wrong move. That costs too much. I say Arizona should follow its own American hero, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County.
Sheriff Arpaio keeps crooks in a large outdoor holding facility and makes them sleep in tents. Among other things, he feeds them bologna sandwiches. I hope they are not fresh.
My good friend Sheriff Arpaio’s common-sense policies and practices drive the American Civil Liberties Union and other leftist numskulls batty. He puts smiles on the faces of Americans who still believe that pragmatism and common sense should rule the day.
Indeed, something needs to be done about illegal immigration and the 12 million to 15 million illegals who already are in America and causing a tremendous financial burden on states because of their abuse of the states’ social services and criminal justice programs. Hospitals in California and other states have closed, and jails and prisons in border states are upward of 40 percent full of illegals.
The invasion roils on.
Hospitals and social-service agencies should follow Arizona’s lead and require that those seeking services provide proof of legal residence. American taxpayers should not be required to pay for providing medical or any other services to illegal immigrants. Making us do so is the ultimate definition of insanity.
What America shouldn’t do is continue to ignore the protection of our borders. There is a growing sentiment among governors of border states that we should call out the National Guard to help secure our borders. Makes sense to me.
Both Republicans and Democrats have made immigration blunders in the past. We should learn from those mistakes and endeavor not to make the same mistakes again.
I support an open, frank and transparent debate on immigration. Let’s lay all the cards on the table and hear from all sides. I say we start with a simple admonition from President Reagan: A nation without borders will soon cease to be a nation.
Good for Arizona. It is refreshing to see that common sense still rules the day somewhere.
Ted Nugent is an unstoppable American rock ’n’ roll, sporting and political activist icon. He is author of “Ted, White & Blue: The Nugent Manifesto” and “God, Guns and Rock ’N’ Roll” (Regnery Publishing).
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