e mërkurë, 27 qershor 2007

Coleman and the Immigration Debate



MSNBC has an article talking about the immigration debate and it profiles two Senators, one being our very own Coleman. The article discusses Coleman's amendment to the immigration bill that would make it so that "sanctuary cities" can no longer pass laws and would nullify laws already passed that would require police officers to not question the legality of one's immigration status. So in other words, a police officer can't ask a person if they are here legally whether if the person is arrested or if the person is requiring assistance.

I am iffy on police officers asking if someone is a legal immigrant when they have arrested someone. I don't believe it is their job to deal with illegal immigrants and nor should they care. It's something the Federal Government needs to deal with. Plus it leads to racism, racial profiling and so forth.

When it comes to police asking if someone is an illegal immigrant when they require assistance, absolutely not. Then illegal immigrants won't ask for help when they need it.

There is a great parallel in this, especially since I am a college student, to underage drinking and getting injured. My friend hit her head relatively hard while drunk, when they called the hospital on what should they do, they were told to bring her in. The guy calling for my friend told the hospital that she was underage and was drinking and asked if she would get a minor. The hospital said no, then people who have been injured while underage drinking would not come in and ignoring injuries is a much worse offense than not giving someone a minor.

This goes right along with Coleman's amendment, it is far worse an offense to not call the police when you really need help than to not arrest an illegal immigrant. People could die because of this amendment, people could have their cars stolen, be held at gun point, be robbed, be assaulted, raped even, but they would be afraid to be deported.

Coleman may not vote on this bill then if his amendment isn't passed, which it has already failed once so I see no reason that it will pass this time. I'm kind of surprised by this. Coleman is fairly conservative on many issues but I always figured he wouldn't be such a hardliner on this. This certainly appeases his Republican base, and adds fuel to the fire for us to defeat him.

The article also says "Coleman, elected in 2002 with only 49 percent, faces a tough re-election battle next year, likely against Democrat author-comedian Al Franken." It appears everyone believes it will be Franken but I still think it is entirely possible that it won't be.

The article can be found at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19444984/.

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