This Is What I'm Talking About

In an earlier article, I argued that we ... and by "we" I mean all us Americans ... need to be honest about what Arizona Senate Bill 1070 says. I posted a link to the actual bill. It's not that hard to find and not that long to read. Anyone writing a news article about the bill should, at the very least, have read the actual bill.

This morning, in the Austin American-Statesman, there is an article entitled "Mexican president's address to Congress spotlights divide." In that article Mr. David Lightman, the reporter, writes:

"Calderon offered blistering comments about the Arizona law, which would require law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of people they stop for other reasons."

Mr. Lightman, I cannot tell if you are lying or just misinformed, but that is not what the law requires. It does not "require law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of people they stop for other reasons."

Here's what the law actually says, and it is different from what Mr. Lightman claims it says. Significantly different.

"FOR ANY LAWFUL CONTACT MADE BY A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL OR AGENCY OF THIS STATE OR A COUNTY, CITY, TOWN OR OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THIS STATE WHERE REASONABLE SUSPICION EXISTS THAT THE PERSON IS AN ALIEN WHO IS UNLAWFULLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES, A REASONABLE ATTEMPT SHALL BE MADE, WHEN PRACTICABLE, TO DETERMINE THE IMMIGRATION STATUS OF THE PERSON."

[Emphasis added.]

(I have quoted the law in all capital letters, not because I'm shouting, but because that's the way the bill is actually written.)

Read it, Mr. Lightman! It does not "require law enforcement officers to [do anything with regard to] people they stop for other reasons." It only requires law enforcement officers to do something regarding someone "where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States." That is a far cry from requiring them to do something when they stop people "for other reasons."

It does not "require law enforcement officers to check the immigration status" of anyone. It requires them, under the circumstances previously described, to "make a reasonable attempt ... when practicable" to determine a person's immigration status. That means, sometimes, at least, they won't have to even try to determine a person's immigration status, because it won't be practicable. And they never have to even try to determine their immigration status - they don't have to even check their immigration status - just because they stop them "for other reasons."

When you say that, Mr. Lightman, it just isn't true.

And the law very definitely, very unequivically, does not require a law enforcement officer to arrest someone either because they are illegally in the country or because they don't have papeers to prove they are in the country. (I know Mr. Lightman didn't say that, but so many of us are!) Can a law enforcement officer make an arrest for such reasons in Arizona? Yes, definitely. Are they required by Arizona S.B. 1070 to make an arrest for such reasons in Arizona? No, definitely not.

We have to stop lying to ourselves and others about this law. It is a bad law. I firmly believe it is a bad law. But, the truth about the law is enough to make me believe it is a bad law without telling myself or anyone else a bunch of lies about what it does!

I get really, really frustrated when my adversaries on the right lie about things. For instance, everytime I hear Dick Cheney say that Iraq had some connection to the September 11th attacks, when I am confident that he knows it's a lie, it infuriates me. For instance, when I hear someone (and I still hear people say it) say that there is a requirement for "death panels" in the recently passed health care reform bill, it infuriates me. That's a lie! Flat out. Unvarnished.

But, because people who ought to be trustworthy said those things, there are gullible folks who believe them to be true. Now those gullible folks join the mass of people who cannot possibly make well-reasoned, well-informed choices about important issues facing our republic, because they believe things that simply aren't true! Which, I fear, may be exactly the goal of people who keep telling these whoppers, whether they be on the right or the left.

We have to stop lying! We can not continue to exist as a democratic republic if we keep telling ourselves a bunch of lies!

Stop it! Now! All of you!