As a proponent of democracy and human rights, the Arizona state law on stopping anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant struck me as just what has been reported by the world’s media – a racial profiling law, and subsequently made me feel slightly uncomfortable with it.

This sentiment has echoed across the country with many in Congress decreeing it while TV celebrities quiz Miss USA contestants about the morality of such actions.

The resulting backlash has in all intents and prissiness been extremely one-sided. It was with this view-point that I embarked on a piece written about the law and illegal immigration in Arizona.

Sylvia Allen writes;

“People who live within 60 miles of the Arizona/Mexico border have for years been terrorized by the daily invasion of foreigners who cross their property. One rancher testified that 300 to 1,200 people per DAY come across his ranch, vandalizing his property, stealing his vehicles, cutting down fences, and leaving trash everywhere. In the last two years, he has found 17 dead bodies and two copies of the Koran.

One man told of two illegal’s who came upon his property – one shot in the back and the other in the arm by drug runners who had forced them to carry the drugs and then shot them. Daily, this rancher listens to gun fire; during the night, it is not safe to leave his family alone, and they can’t leave their ranch for fear of nothing being left when they come back.”

Sounds more like a horror story to me, however, we must all pass on the same privilege of democracy being granted to the individuals protesting the law as to those supporting it. It is in this vein that people who have real concerns and fears around illegal immigration should be heard. I will, however, not be printing anymore of Allen’s writing as this would be stretching the point.

The facts behind the law is that the two countries do touch and share a border, so there is a strong case of there perhaps being a problem with illegal immigrants in this area. Although I would add that might it not of been better to concentrate US immigration resources in preventing the problem rather than rounding them up afterwards?