Ihre Unterlagen Bitte, Teil 1
That’s German for “Your Papers, Please.” I also think it’s the new motto for the state of Arizona. In an understandable but woefully misguided effort to crackdown on illegal immigration, Arizona has gone just a bit too far, kind of like the Germans going into Gdansk.
The law basically does several things
- Makes it a crime for immigrants to be in the state without proper paperwork.
- It allows for the arrests of illegal immigrants based on “reasonable suspicion” and no warrant.
- It’s illegal to employ or transport illegal immigrants, even if they are family members.
- It also calls for illegal immigrants to be tattooed and herded into camps.
Okay, I made that last one up. But it may as well be Berlin 1939 as opposed to Phoenix 2010.
Where do I begin? First, the ultimate determination of citizenship has been the purview of the federal government since the founding of the Republic. Albeit the first citizenship law of 1795 was rather narrow, limiting citizenship to “free white persons” who resided in the United States for at least five years and renounced their allegiance to other nations. That was later expanded in 1798 to 14 years.
Of course that’s also not the first time citizenship laws would restrict people of color. In 19th Century California Chinese immigrants were prohibited from testifying against whites in court. The Naturalization Act of 1870 limited citizenship to “white persons and persons of African descent”; no Asians allowed.
And women weren’t all that better off either, in 1907 under the Expatriation Act a woman who married a foreign national lost her citizenship. In 1913 California passed a law making “aliens ineligible for citizenship” which also meant no Japanese or Chinese could own land.
Here’s an oldie but a goody, in 1923 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Indians from the Asian subcontinent could not become citizens. Red feather; good. Red dot; bad.
The list goes on and on. Internment of the Japanese during World War II. “Operation Wetback” which forced the return of undocumented workers back to Mexico, etc. etc.
So you might say my drawing a parallel between the state of Arizona and Nazi Germany is a bit much. The Grand Canyon State is simply following the more tragic part of our nation’s history.
Tomorrow: We’ll discuss why state’s meddling in immigration law violates the Constitution of the United States.
