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This post was drafted quite some time ago, but not published, better late than never.)
I'm a little late to the dance on this one, but it irritated me enough to blog on it, with the thought of better late than never. The C-Ville is mini newspaper available for free at literally hundreds of locations in and around Albemarle County and even here in the Shenandoah Valley. The writers and editors don't hide their rather severe liberal bias. I'm not normally bothered by their particular brand of journalism as I believe that the 1st Amendment covers all speech not just the type I like, I do however draw the line once outright lies are told and opines are not longer the primary focus of the article. In the May 18th - 24 issue a lower left front page "one liner" states
Virgil Goode returns with a big "Hell yeah" for immigrant bashing Arizona and states the remainder of the story is on P.17.
Liberals are sympathetic to the plight of immigrants, ok I get it. Here is where I don't get it; immigrants generally refers to someone who goes through the long arduous process of getting here legally and then an even longer in some cases more arduous process of becoming an American Citizen. The people who Arizona's new law will target are by definition at the very least persons of interest in some other incident that law enforcement officers have the authority to investigate such as a moving violation or being involved in fight or some kind. I guess I just don't quite see how determining the immigration status of an individual during the legal and lawful actions of a peace officer to determine if the subject is in fact a felon is a problem. If you come to this country illegally then you're by definition a criminal and should be dealt with accordingly. I would also add that the Supreme Court has already given law enforcement officers the authority to determine a persons immigration status without any other action or crime present. The AZ law has a higher standard than is even required by Federal Law.
