@DonkeyKong: I think so. Time to get out PE’s version of By the Time I Get to AZ.
6.
That Anonymous Guy
Tempted to finally stop excusing my home state and torch my Arizona birth certificate, but figure I’ll first try to see if I can find some dipshit teabagger willing to pay a few bucks for the transferred privilege of hailing from such a redneck, ass-backwards state.
Bidding starts at $50.
7.
beltane
Why hasn’t the Catholic Church refused communion to politicians who support this bill?
8.
Chat Noir
Wanted to go to Grand Canyon this summer for vacation but not now. Arizona is a beautiful state but I don’t want to spend my dollars in a state that passes such hateful legislation.
I just went to my doctor’s office for a sinus/ear infection. I had never seen this particular physician before and certainly didn’t bring up politics with him, but as I was about to pay my bill, he volunteered, “We take cash, check, credit or debit card. No chickens.” I’m in Indiana, mind you. I think Sue Lowden is in real trouble if even random doctors in Indiana are mocking her to near-total strangers.
Seems like the Democrats should work on bringing the chickens into the national health care debate (the fact that it’s Harry Reid’s race should help with this). Ask Republicans to either denounce Lowden and violate Reagan’s 11th commandment or defend her and look crazy like chickenpoop. My money is that the instinctive reaction of most GOPers will be the latter.
@dmsilev: Jan Brewer’s courage in the face of evil is such an inspiration. There are people willing to give their lives to do the right thing, and then there are the people who won’t even sacrifice a few votes or a few dollars to do what’s right.
Sorry, but Brewer’s a coward who deserves to lose to a greater wingnut.
13.
dmsilev
@Calouste: Does Lowden’s campaign accept chicken donations in lieu of cash? Her next FEC filing will be interesting to read…
Tempted to finally stop excusing my home state and torch my Arizona birth certificate …
Why not give it to an undocumented immigrant in AZ? That’d surely piss off someone there.
.
15.
dmsilev
@beltane: True enough. She either truly believes that this law is a good idea, or she signed it because she wanted to keep her job. As you say, neither reflects particularly well on her character.
And people across Virginia breathe a sigh of relief as they now have another state to point to when people complain about the racism of their governor.
17.
ruemara
Fuck Arizona. I loved that place and this is codified into law bigotry. No dollars again, until this bigot bill goes down in inevitable flames.
18.
Alex
And the funny thing is, all the white conservatives supporting this would absolutely lose their shit if the government tried to issue I.D. cards. Not that making certain people have their “papers” on them at all times doesn’t achieve the same purpose.
19.
Culture of Truth
I can’t wait for the smaller government Tea Party crowd to descend on Arizona demanding repeal of this law.
I wonder if Fox news will cover the rally?
20.
beltane
Arizona exists to make Texas look good in comparison. I don’t even think George W. Bush would have supported this pos bill.
21.
ErikaF
I found out that I can also claim citizenship from France as well as the US (French mother whose been a legal resident for 50 years). I think I’m going to apply for a French passport, and carry it when I visit my Dad in AZ (he’s massively unthrilled with AZ politics!)
22.
Sentient Puddle
[Brewer] urged the law’s supporters and enforcers to be careful not to make “even the slightest misstep.”
Bets on how long it will take for enforcers to make a huge misstep? My money’s on three days after the law goes into effect.
23.
Jager
I have several friends who moved to AZ from Boston and they seem to be immune to the bullshit that goes down in Maricopa County and the rest of the state. So many people who live in AZ have moved there from somewhere else and don’t get involved or feel any complusion to be involved. They bitch about the Nazi traffic enforcement, but that’s about it. A few years ago I thought AZ was moving blue, at least purple. Not so much now! Notice the assholes packing heat in the picture!
How many people walk around with papers that prove their citizenship/visa status anyway? I know I certainly don’t carry a passport or birth certificate (long form vault copy, of course) on a day to day basis. Driver’s license, sure, but will that be enough when the cop asks for “papers, please”?
dms
27.
DarrenG
So far Twitter wins on Arizona:
daveweigel: BREAKING: DC City Council passes law making it mandatory to ask Arizonans for ID, then kick them in the shins.
AdamSerwer: Someone tell Jan Brewer that Lincoln called. He says he wants his party back.
brianbeutler: EXCLUSIVE: Lowden welcomes Arizona Mexicans to Nevada in exchange for fresh cooking, livestock.
AdamSerwer: Arizona, Imma let you finish, but the South post-1876 had some of the “best” racist laws of all time.
pourmecoffee: Effective immediately, please have your Mayflower Boarding Ticket ready if you wish to enter Arizona.
28.
YellowJournalism
My mother’s response: “Well, Arizona has always been a bit crazy.”
29.
The Main Gauche of Mild Reason
As much as I might like to mock and denounce AZ, I can see something similar passing very easily even here in “liberal California”. The anti-immigrant sentiment doesn’t always line up with conservative/liberal politics the way one would expect…
I was talking to my center-left totebagger parents who live in Southern CA a couple days ago, and they started talking about how they thought something similar in CA would be a good idea and “really help crack down on those drug gangs murdering people”.
Read between the lines
Then you see the lie
Politically planned
But understand that’s all she wrote
When we see the real side
That hide behind the vote
They can’t understand why he the man
I’m singin’ ’bout a king
They don’t like it
When I decide to mike it
Wait I’m waitin’ for the date
For the man who demands respect
‘Cause he was great c’mon
I’m on the one mission
To get a politician
To honor or he’s a gonner
By the time I get to Arizona
Wanted to go to Grand Canyon this summer for vacation but not now.
The Grand Canyon is pretty nice, but it’s far from the prettiest out there. Last time I went, I felt like it was a bit overdeveloped.
New Mexico has a lot of very nice attractions, and it’s not nearly as wingnutty as AZ…
32.
beltane
@dmsilev: My passport expired a couple of years ago, and I don’t have a clue as to where my birth certificate is. Ironically, the more conservative a person is, the less likely they are to have a passport (furrin’ countries are for elitist America haters).
33.
Bordo
You can’t judge an entire state by the actions of its most extreme politicians, but I’m in agreement with an earlier poster. Fuck Arizona. Until this horrible law is declared unconstitutional or repealed, I’m never going back to Mesa to see the Cubs again. And I’ll be writing the baseball team to suggest they relocate to a less fascist state.
Honestly, the imagery is a little too violent for me.
35.
EdTheRed
@Midnight Marauder: Heh, great minds. Scroll up – I posted a link to the video…first thing I thought was “What’s a smiling face when the whole state’s racist?”
36.
calipygian
So if a pale ass white guy like myself were to stand on the steps of the capital without carrying any ID and yell over and over again in a fake accent “I am an immigrant and I am not carrying any ID” until I got arrested, would they try to deport me?
Honestly, the imagery is a little too violent for me.
The Tucson and Yuma, Arizona offices of Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) have confirmed to TPM that they will be closed for the weekend after receiving death threats.
__
Grijalva spokesperson Adam Sarvana told TPM the Tucson office received two phone calls from the same man “threatening to come into the office and blow everyone’s brains out.” The caller said that afterwards, he would “go down to the border and shoot any Mexicans he saw.”
Yeah, not so much.
38.
jl
Regardless of whether the local police put any priority on ‘enforcing’ (whatever that means in this case) this law, it will make their job of investigating actual crimes and public safety incidents (such as robbery, murder, traffic accidents, etc) more difficult.
If they do enforce it, how many legal residents will be caught up in it, and what will they do for ‘legal papers’, or whatever they are supposed to produce?
What will happen when the first ‘open carry’ nutcase is stopped and he or she does not have what is considered appropriate ID?
If you don’t drive, are you supposed to carry your birth certificate around with you? I’ll read up on the details of how it supposed to work later.
39.
Violet
Is there a “Boycott Arizona” campaign going yet?
How the heck do they expect people to prove they’re not here illegally? I don’t carry around any proof on a regular basis. A drivers license isn’t proof. I sure don’t carry a birth certificate around, nor do most people, nor should they. The risk of identify theft should you lose it is too high.
I have several friends who moved to AZ from Boston and they seem to be immune to the bullshit that goes down in Maricopa County and the rest of the state. So many people who live in AZ have moved there from somewhere else and don’t get involved or feel any complusion to be involved. They bitch about the Nazi traffic enforcement, but that’s about it. A few years ago I thought AZ was moving blue, at least purple.
That should at least improve, as I’m hoping to relocate there in the fall. And their traffic laws are stupid, but easy to get around. This law is awful, but the way it’s written, it seems like enforcement will almost surely be toothless.
It reminds me of Bill Hicks and his attitude on pot. “To those people that want pot to be legal, it is. Smoke away. To those who protest and say it should be illegal, It is illegal don’t worry about it, we’re cracking down.”
41.
Svensker
The people of Arizona who support this law deserve that song.
Not to bring religion into it, but here’s a very impassioned appeal from Jim Wallis, of Sojourners, a liberal evangelical group, talking about the impact this bill will have not only on immigrants, but on health care workers, social workers, and religious workers who try to help immigrants — since you can apparently be arrested for even being “with” an illegal.
You can’t judge an entire state by the actions of its most extreme politicians, but I’m in agreement with an earlier poster. Fuck Arizona.
Let’s be clear here. While there may be extremists running the state, those extremists had enough numbers to get this legislation through the state House and Senate, in addition to their governor signing it into law.
At that point, it is more than fair to judge a state for its extremism.
“The bill states that an Arizona driver’s license is sufficient to prove citizenship. Nowakowski argued that licenses from other states, however, may not be sufficient because some states do not require proof of citizenship to get a license, as Arizona does.”
There’s the first challenge. When Arizona detains someone for having an out of state license. My, my. This is a work of GENIUS, I’ll tell ya.
They aren’t doing any police officer training in the new law, either, just to make certain it’s applied completely arbitrarily and as unfairly as possible.
44.
YellowJournalism
Why don’t they skip the necessity for papers and have any Latino Americans just sew little Taco Bell symbols on their clothing?
/wingnut
45.
Tonal Crow
I can’t wait for the first teabagger without ID proving citizenship (who carries that?) to be put into detention — by Obama’s ICE. The whine, it will be epic.
I can’t wait for the first teabagger without ID proving citizenship (who carries that?) to be put into ICE detention. The whine, it will be epic.
Perhaps someone can take on the state, if they release said teabagger, because teabagger didn’t provide the long form birth certificate…And no, the one he’s provided isn’t good enough. We need the real one. No, not that one either. The long form one. No, if the state he was born in says that’s all they’ve got, it’s not good enough. No, having the highest ranking person from the state of his birth saying he was born in their state doesn’t help either. He has to provide the REAL birth certificate. Otherwise, go back to where he came from.
This law is awful, but the way it’s written, it seems like enforcement will almost surely be toothless.
I would have to disagree with you on that point. I think regardless of how it is written, this law is far from toothless. We are talking about legislation that makes it illegal to essentially be in the company of any illegal immigrants, no matter what you may be doing with them (We’re looking at you social services, religious workers, health services types). Not only that, but there’s no way you can overlook the odious provision that gives Arizona citizens the ability to bring a lawsuit against a police department, municipality, or individual who fails to respect or enforce the law in any way, shape, or form.
If this bill is toothless, then these are the most dangerous set of gums I have seen in a long time.
Seconded. It’s the Land of Enchantment. Also. Too.
50.
demkat620
So, Imma go out on limb here but, seems to me, things ain’t looking to good for Phoenix to get the DNC in 2012.
Bet however, it just shot to the top of the GOP list.
51.
Tonal Crow
@Violet: Word. And because the teabagger can’t prove where he came from, he can be held by ICE indefinitely. Or at least until we can find some country — say, Afghanistan — to take him.
@dmsilev: God oh God almighty – I wish someone would be willing to commit political suicide in the name of Right.
You know?
53.
MattR
@kay: That alters my idea for a protest a little, but not much. I propose a roving band of 25 thousand or so dark skinned Americans with passports who just show up in a random Arizona town for the day and wander through the streets. I want to see the cops try and check all of their papers.
I think they’ll use the stop (or the detention) to charge them with other crimes.
Incidentally, do Arizonans know they seem to have just given every police officer in the state both a premise and a duty to stop them?
I mean, that is truly frightening.
They must be really, really trusting and law-abiding people. With no particular place to go.
55.
burnspbesq
Andrew now refers to Going Rogue as a “novella.”
No matter what you think of him, you have to admit that the man can write.
white Americans, what?
nothing better to do?
why don’t you kick yourself out
you’re an immigrant too.
who’s using who? what should we do?
well, you can’t be a pimp
and a prostitute too.
probably an illegal immigrant, too. Hell, I know for a fact that my great-great grandfather literally jumped ship to stay here. I have no idea if he ever got papers.
You’re probably right. At least my choice of the word toothless was off. What I was meaning to say is that my nascent understanding of the bill is that it is pretty much impossible from an enforcement standpoint.
Being sued because it’s impossible on top of that is just ridiculous.
I have to read this law. I was going to skip the horror, but it just struck me that they can stop anyone in Arizona on the premise of “looks foreign”. Ordinarily, police need a tad more than that. Not much, but something.
I mean, they’re going to discover all manner of law-breaking with this “duty to stop”, I would think.
60.
burnspbesq
This is pretty good too. Little Red(State) Book, anyone?
@kay: Thus begins another battle in the War to Destroy the 4th Amendment.
62.
Kate in AZ
@Jager: Moved to the Tucson area from Massachusetts almost 3 years ago and have been working hard to elect Democrats, along with many other transplants and natives, but it is a heavy lift, even in the more liberal southern part of this crazy state. Sad, sad day here. Not sure how much more of this shit I can take.
How the heck do they expect people to prove they’re not here illegally?
Welcome to Arizona! The “Guilty Until Proven Innocent” State!
.
65.
Cat Lady
This law is going to be the ground zero of the law of unintended consequences. Ironically, this will also help to further aid in drafting a more coherent and effective federal immigration law, because Arizona is going to be the petri dish we’ll get to watch in real time. Obama keeps being handed these weirdly timed opportunities to push for the things he wants to do, due to overreach- before the election it was the financial meltdown, after Scott Brown’s election when HCR was thought to be lost it was the insurance companies’ raised premium notices, and then most recently the SEC’s shot over GS’s bow for fraud. Now this. The guy is lucky, or smart, or both. I vote both.
/Obot.
66.
Calouste
I guess we can just wait (won’t be long) until a Spanish/French/Italian exchange student forgets to take their passport with them one day and gets beaten to shits by Araipo’s thugs for the inconvenience. That tends to make the papers over there.
He won the lottery when he was born
Took his mothers white breast to his tongue
Trained like dogs, color and smell
Walks by me to get to him
Police man
Police man
___
He won the lottery by being born
Big hand slapped a white male American
Do no wrong, so clean cut…
Dirty his hands, it comes right off
Police man
Police man
Police stopped my brother again
…
What will all the ICE-calling and transporting detainees, maybe the police won’t have time to stop any but the very foreign looking.
Maybe they’re banking on that.
LOTS of undetected law-breaking going on out there. This is a handy tool.
70.
Dee Loralei
If one were a citizen of the state and were to be so inclined, you could prolly have a lot of fun with the “any citizen” can sue part of the bill. Call the cops every time you see the lawn service at John McCain’s house, since he thinks the bill is a fine idea. Call the cops every day JC’s got his maid in, or Jan Brewer has her pool serviced. I mean it would be bad and cause 10,000 headaches for their service employees, especially if they were illegals. But it sure would be funny to see Hayworth hauled to jail for being with an illegal, now wouldn’t it?
But anyone who’s favorite pro teams have spring or winter training there, needs to make calls to the head office cancelling season tickets or whatever until a boycott is in place and this odious law is re-written. Also anyone who donates to the DNC needs to make sure they announce now that Phoenix is out of the running for 2012 convention.
71.
Violet
@Cat Lady:
I agree. I think this is terrible for the people of Arizona, but good for Obama since it seems he wants to push for immigration reform. We can watch this style of “reform” happen in real time. When it’s a disaster, maybe people will be more open to looking at realistic alternatives.
72.
Pasquinade
DarrenG, great Tweets.
Please direct all types of vitriol by tweeting to retweeting to @andilinks
@kay: Yeah. I can’t wait for somebody to rob a bank while the police are responding to an anonymous tip about a group of Mexicans congregating on the other side of town.
DNC needs to make sure they announce now that Phoenix is out of the running for 2012 convention.
They certainly do. There’s going to be a rash of wingnut citizen complaints, probably hundreds, as soon as that parade rolls into town. Almost like a “sting”, right? LURE them there and then incarcerate the opposition, until Decemberish.
We are talking about legislation that makes it illegal to essentially be in the company of any illegal immigrants, no matter what you may be doing with them
So if you’re standing in a line at the supermarket waiting to check out, technically you could be arrested if the folks in front or behind you are illegal immigrants. Because that’s “in the company of…”
Oh, I wish someone would make those kinds of arrests. Along with sending the cops over to the house every low- to mid-level Republican in Arizona when they’ve got their lawn service, pool guys, maid service etc. around. The high ranking Republicans most likely watch that kind of thing. But the lower level folks? Catch five or ten of them “in the company of illegal immigrants” and watch the fun begin.
I actually think it’s really sad, and here’s why. When the parents leave for work or wherever and don’t return, the kids are left alone. That’s what happened in the massive meatpacking arrests in Iowa, in 2007. The kids were sitting at the babysitter or at daycare, and their parents just did not return to get them. The illegals were then charged (not just detained or deported, under immigration law) with some obscure federal criminal statute relating to Social Security.
So, yeah, sad.
Seconded. It’s the Land of Enchantment. Also. Too.
We are citizens of the Universe here in the LoE, and our mother earth love vibes are all the papers required. It is why we boast the only private Spaceport in the world, except for maybe New Orleans.
As far as I am concerned this law is going to cost lives. Somebody is trying to break into your house? If you are “brown” or whatever legal or not, would you call the cops? People are going to die because of this law.
82.
gwangung
@Litlebritdifrnt: If they’re brown, then that’s a feature for them.
83.
BDeevDad
Does showing a Hawaiian Certification of Birth get you arrested and deported to Mexico?
84.
ChockFullO'Nuts
I’m disappointed that Brewer decided to sign the bill. Forget the police state aspects of the thing, there are considerable problems with enforceability.
Arizona, like many states, is largely broke, and has no resources for a massive new law enforcement and criminal justice campaign. At the same time, the Federal government has basically abdicated its border responsibilities and basically left the states along the Mexican border to deal with an ongoing trainwreck of illegal immigration and drug wars. The law, among other things, is a call out to Washington DC to get off its dysfunctional ass and do something about the disaster happening along our southern border.
Five years ago, I was going to take a drive and hike into the gorgeous country along the border east of Nogales, AZ … until I went there, scouted the territory and researched the status of the territory down there. I concluded that it just wasn’t safe to take on the adventure, not on the Mexican side …on the American side. Forget going into Mexico down there right now, it’s World War Three.
The situation is not sustainable and the passage of this law is a direct result. Whatever the rhetoric about the nature of the law, and that rhetoric is deserved, the law will end up serving a purpose if it results in seeing the US Government taking meaningful control of its border.
@Bordo: If the Cubs’ front office — and those of all the MLB and MLB-affiliated teams who train and play in Arizona — are on the ball, they’re already worried about this law, for their own players’ sakes. After all, how many swarthy Hispanics are on the average baseball roster these days?
And can you imagine some horse’s-ass cop approaching Carlos Zambrano while he’s enjoying a preseason-postgame meal in a Mesa restaurant and asking him for his papers? Hoo boy.
Hell, my own hair and eyebrows are dark brown. I’d better stay the hell out of Arizona myself. I could end up in a world of trouble.
It seems to me as though this law violates the full faith and credit clause or the privileges and immunities clause in the Constitution somehow. IANAL, so I’m probably wrong.
Then my papers are in order for Taos,where I will welcome my spirit overlords. also. too.
93.
EdTheRed
I’m too worked up to even look at memeorandum…someone let me know when a wingnut suggests arresting Obama for failing to prove his citizenship then next time he’s in Arizona. Actually, never mind, I’m sure it’s already a meme amongst “serious” bloggers.
@Cat Lady: I do love me some Taos. Haven’t been up that way since I moved down south to Silver City in the Gilastan province of LoE.
95.
mai naem
I am willing to bet there’s a whole lot of brown people out there who are going to try to get arrested because they’ll look at it as their lottery ticket. Just remember people do really stupid things to get on Jerry Springer for five hundred measly bucks. You think people won’t pull this for several thousand dollars?
This state happens to be more tourist dependent than the average state and this is going to hurt the tourist business big time. I know three people in various hospitality related jobs – they all are saying their income is down over 30 percent from a couple of years ago.
I am just embarrassed by my state. Oh, and if there were awards for absolutely no profile in courage Brewer would be towards the top.
Arizona exists to make Texas look good in comparison.
As a neighbor, though, I’m hoping the noise over this particular piece of nuckfuttery wingnuttery will encourage the “Libertarian Statists” to abandon New Hampshire for Sherff Joe’s Whitebread Fantasyland.
Bret
We’re sorry.
I bet Bridgette McCain’s going to be pissed.
DonkeyKong
No Public Enemy?
dmsilev
Sigh. Not really a surprise, though. As I understand it, vetoing it would have been political suicide for the Governor.
dms
jeffreyw
Here’s some pretty for ya.
jl
@DonkeyKong: I think so. Time to get out PE’s version of By the Time I Get to AZ.
That Anonymous Guy
Tempted to finally stop excusing my home state and torch my Arizona birth certificate, but figure I’ll first try to see if I can find some dipshit teabagger willing to pay a few bucks for the transferred privilege of hailing from such a redneck, ass-backwards state.
Bidding starts at $50.
beltane
Why hasn’t the Catholic Church refused communion to politicians who support this bill?
Chat Noir
Wanted to go to Grand Canyon this summer for vacation but not now. Arizona is a beautiful state but I don’t want to spend my dollars in a state that passes such hateful legislation.
PurpleGirl
@jeffreyw: Yes, very pretty. Thank you.
Calouste
Funny (frontpaged) comment from a TPM reader:
Seems like the Democrats should work on bringing the chickens into the national health care debate (the fact that it’s Harry Reid’s race should help with this). Ask Republicans to either denounce Lowden and violate Reagan’s 11th commandment or defend her and look crazy like chickenpoop. My money is that the instinctive reaction of most GOPers will be the latter.
JMY
Did anybody read this?
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/04/gay-activists-v-the-white-house-the-inside-story/39442/
I thought it was a good article.
beltane
@dmsilev: Jan Brewer’s courage in the face of evil is such an inspiration. There are people willing to give their lives to do the right thing, and then there are the people who won’t even sacrifice a few votes or a few dollars to do what’s right.
Sorry, but Brewer’s a coward who deserves to lose to a greater wingnut.
dmsilev
@Calouste: Does Lowden’s campaign accept chicken donations in lieu of cash? Her next FEC filing will be interesting to read…
dms
JGabriel
@That Anonymous Guy:
Why not give it to an undocumented immigrant in AZ? That’d surely piss off someone there.
.
dmsilev
@beltane: True enough. She either truly believes that this law is a good idea, or she signed it because she wanted to keep her job. As you say, neither reflects particularly well on her character.
dms
KCinDC
And people across Virginia breathe a sigh of relief as they now have another state to point to when people complain about the racism of their governor.
ruemara
Fuck Arizona. I loved that place and this is codified into law bigotry. No dollars again, until this bigot bill goes down in inevitable flames.
Alex
And the funny thing is, all the white conservatives supporting this would absolutely lose their shit if the government tried to issue I.D. cards. Not that making certain people have their “papers” on them at all times doesn’t achieve the same purpose.
Culture of Truth
I can’t wait for the smaller government Tea Party crowd to descend on Arizona demanding repeal of this law.
I wonder if Fox news will cover the rally?
beltane
Arizona exists to make Texas look good in comparison. I don’t even think George W. Bush would have supported this pos bill.
ErikaF
I found out that I can also claim citizenship from France as well as the US (French mother whose been a legal resident for 50 years). I think I’m going to apply for a French passport, and carry it when I visit my Dad in AZ (he’s massively unthrilled with AZ politics!)
Sentient Puddle
Bets on how long it will take for enforcers to make a huge misstep? My money’s on three days after the law goes into effect.
Jager
I have several friends who moved to AZ from Boston and they seem to be immune to the bullshit that goes down in Maricopa County and the rest of the state. So many people who live in AZ have moved there from somewhere else and don’t get involved or feel any complusion to be involved. They bitch about the Nazi traffic enforcement, but that’s about it. A few years ago I thought AZ was moving blue, at least purple. Not so much now! Notice the assholes packing heat in the picture!
demkat620
What are the chances the SCOTUS throws this out?
EdTheRed
Take it away, Chuck D…
dmsilev
How many people walk around with papers that prove their citizenship/visa status anyway? I know I certainly don’t carry a passport or birth certificate (long form vault copy, of course) on a day to day basis. Driver’s license, sure, but will that be enough when the cop asks for “papers, please”?
dms
DarrenG
So far Twitter wins on Arizona:
daveweigel: BREAKING: DC City Council passes law making it mandatory to ask Arizonans for ID, then kick them in the shins.
AdamSerwer: Someone tell Jan Brewer that Lincoln called. He says he wants his party back.
brianbeutler: EXCLUSIVE: Lowden welcomes Arizona Mexicans to Nevada in exchange for fresh cooking, livestock.
AdamSerwer: Arizona, Imma let you finish, but the South post-1876 had some of the “best” racist laws of all time.
pourmecoffee: Effective immediately, please have your Mayflower Boarding Ticket ready if you wish to enter Arizona.
YellowJournalism
My mother’s response: “Well, Arizona has always been a bit crazy.”
The Main Gauche of Mild Reason
As much as I might like to mock and denounce AZ, I can see something similar passing very easily even here in “liberal California”. The anti-immigrant sentiment doesn’t always line up with conservative/liberal politics the way one would expect…
I was talking to my center-left totebagger parents who live in Southern CA a couple days ago, and they started talking about how they thought something similar in CA would be a good idea and “really help crack down on those drug gangs murdering people”.
Midnight Marauder
@DonkeyKong:
Seriously. A rare miss, DougJ.
Scott
@Chat Noir:
Wanted to go to Grand Canyon this summer for vacation but not now.
The Grand Canyon is pretty nice, but it’s far from the prettiest out there. Last time I went, I felt like it was a bit overdeveloped.
New Mexico has a lot of very nice attractions, and it’s not nearly as wingnutty as AZ…
beltane
@dmsilev: My passport expired a couple of years ago, and I don’t have a clue as to where my birth certificate is. Ironically, the more conservative a person is, the less likely they are to have a passport (furrin’ countries are for elitist America haters).
Bordo
You can’t judge an entire state by the actions of its most extreme politicians, but I’m in agreement with an earlier poster. Fuck Arizona. Until this horrible law is declared unconstitutional or repealed, I’m never going back to Mesa to see the Cubs again. And I’ll be writing the baseball team to suggest they relocate to a less fascist state.
Boycott Arizona. New Mexico is prettier, anyhow.
DougJ
@Midnight Marauder:
Honestly, the imagery is a little too violent for me.
EdTheRed
@Midnight Marauder: Heh, great minds. Scroll up – I posted a link to the video…first thing I thought was “What’s a smiling face when the whole state’s racist?”
calipygian
So if a pale ass white guy like myself were to stand on the steps of the capital without carrying any ID and yell over and over again in a fake accent “I am an immigrant and I am not carrying any ID” until I got arrested, would they try to deport me?
(P.S. – I’m not an immigrant)
Midnight Marauder
@DougJ:
Yeah, not so much.
jl
Regardless of whether the local police put any priority on ‘enforcing’ (whatever that means in this case) this law, it will make their job of investigating actual crimes and public safety incidents (such as robbery, murder, traffic accidents, etc) more difficult.
If they do enforce it, how many legal residents will be caught up in it, and what will they do for ‘legal papers’, or whatever they are supposed to produce?
What will happen when the first ‘open carry’ nutcase is stopped and he or she does not have what is considered appropriate ID?
If you don’t drive, are you supposed to carry your birth certificate around with you? I’ll read up on the details of how it supposed to work later.
Violet
Is there a “Boycott Arizona” campaign going yet?
How the heck do they expect people to prove they’re not here illegally? I don’t carry around any proof on a regular basis. A drivers license isn’t proof. I sure don’t carry a birth certificate around, nor do most people, nor should they. The risk of identify theft should you lose it is too high.
This law is truly awful.
freelancer
That should at least improve, as I’m hoping to relocate there in the fall. And their traffic laws are stupid, but easy to get around. This law is awful, but the way it’s written, it seems like enforcement will almost surely be toothless.
It reminds me of Bill Hicks and his attitude on pot. “To those people that want pot to be legal, it is. Smoke away. To those who protest and say it should be illegal, It is illegal don’t worry about it, we’re cracking down.”
Svensker
The people of Arizona who support this law deserve that song.
Not to bring religion into it, but here’s a very impassioned appeal from Jim Wallis, of Sojourners, a liberal evangelical group, talking about the impact this bill will have not only on immigrants, but on health care workers, social workers, and religious workers who try to help immigrants — since you can apparently be arrested for even being “with” an illegal.
Midnight Marauder
@Bordo:
Let’s be clear here. While there may be extremists running the state, those extremists had enough numbers to get this legislation through the state House and Senate, in addition to their governor signing it into law.
At that point, it is more than fair to judge a state for its extremism.
kay
@dmsilev:
It depends.
“The bill states that an Arizona driver’s license is sufficient to prove citizenship. Nowakowski argued that licenses from other states, however, may not be sufficient because some states do not require proof of citizenship to get a license, as Arizona does.”
There’s the first challenge. When Arizona detains someone for having an out of state license. My, my. This is a work of GENIUS, I’ll tell ya.
They aren’t doing any police officer training in the new law, either, just to make certain it’s applied completely arbitrarily and as unfairly as possible.
YellowJournalism
Why don’t they skip the necessity for papers and have any Latino Americans just sew little Taco Bell symbols on their clothing?
/wingnut
Tonal Crow
I can’t wait for the first teabagger without ID proving citizenship (who carries that?) to be put into detention — by Obama’s ICE. The whine, it will be epic.
Chat Noir
@Scott:
New Mexico is on the short list, and not just because we watch “Breaking Bad.” Thx for the suggestion.
Violet
@Tonal Crow:
Perhaps someone can take on the state, if they release said teabagger, because teabagger didn’t provide the long form birth certificate…And no, the one he’s provided isn’t good enough. We need the real one. No, not that one either. The long form one. No, if the state he was born in says that’s all they’ve got, it’s not good enough. No, having the highest ranking person from the state of his birth saying he was born in their state doesn’t help either. He has to provide the REAL birth certificate. Otherwise, go back to where he came from.
Midnight Marauder
@freelancer:
I would have to disagree with you on that point. I think regardless of how it is written, this law is far from toothless. We are talking about legislation that makes it illegal to essentially be in the company of any illegal immigrants, no matter what you may be doing with them (We’re looking at you social services, religious workers, health services types). Not only that, but there’s no way you can overlook the odious provision that gives Arizona citizens the ability to bring a lawsuit against a police department, municipality, or individual who fails to respect or enforce the law in any way, shape, or form.
If this bill is toothless, then these are the most dangerous set of gums I have seen in a long time.
Cat Lady
@Chat Noir:
Seconded. It’s the Land of Enchantment. Also. Too.
demkat620
So, Imma go out on limb here but, seems to me, things ain’t looking to good for Phoenix to get the DNC in 2012.
Bet however, it just shot to the top of the GOP list.
Tonal Crow
@Violet: Word. And because the teabagger can’t prove where he came from, he can be held by ICE indefinitely. Or at least until we can find some country — say, Afghanistan — to take him.
ellaesther
@dmsilev: God oh God almighty – I wish someone would be willing to commit political suicide in the name of Right.
You know?
MattR
@kay: That alters my idea for a protest a little, but not much. I propose a roving band of 25 thousand or so dark skinned Americans with passports who just show up in a random Arizona town for the day and wander through the streets. I want to see the cops try and check all of their papers.
kay
@Midnight Marauder:
I think they’ll use the stop (or the detention) to charge them with other crimes.
Incidentally, do Arizonans know they seem to have just given every police officer in the state both a premise and a duty to stop them?
I mean, that is truly frightening.
They must be really, really trusting and law-abiding people. With no particular place to go.
burnspbesq
Andrew now refers to Going Rogue as a “novella.”
No matter what you think of him, you have to admit that the man can write.
master c
that song always puzzled me.
ellaesther
Or how about The White Stripes?
white Americans, what?
nothing better to do?
why don’t you kick yourself out
you’re an immigrant too.
who’s using who? what should we do?
well, you can’t be a pimp
and a prostitute too.
probably an illegal immigrant, too. Hell, I know for a fact that my great-great grandfather literally jumped ship to stay here. I have no idea if he ever got papers.
White Stripes, Icky Thump (note Spanish subtitles!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OjTspCqvk8
freelancer
@Midnight Marauder
You’re probably right. At least my choice of the word toothless was off. What I was meaning to say is that my nascent understanding of the bill is that it is pretty much impossible from an enforcement standpoint.
Being sued because it’s impossible on top of that is just ridiculous.
kay
@MattR:
I have to read this law. I was going to skip the horror, but it just struck me that they can stop anyone in Arizona on the premise of “looks foreign”. Ordinarily, police need a tad more than that. Not much, but something.
I mean, they’re going to discover all manner of law-breaking with this “duty to stop”, I would think.
burnspbesq
This is pretty good too. Little Red(State) Book, anyone?
http://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/12679749557
Tonal Crow
@kay: Thus begins another battle in the War to Destroy the 4th Amendment.
Kate in AZ
@Jager: Moved to the Tucson area from Massachusetts almost 3 years ago and have been working hard to elect Democrats, along with many other transplants and natives, but it is a heavy lift, even in the more liberal southern part of this crazy state. Sad, sad day here. Not sure how much more of this shit I can take.
ellaesther
Ok, I’mma use the opportunity of the all-kinds-of-shit that this new law makes me feel to suggest two rather more pleasant reads, over at my place:
“The first fifteen months + my bad” — in which I allow as how this POTUS is actually doing pretty fair at his job: http://emilylhauserinmyhead.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/the-first-fixteen-months-my-bad/
“Winnie the Pooh and Elmer the Elf” — in which I consider what is Real when you’re little, and how it still matters when you’re big: http://emilylhauserinmyhead.wordpress.com/2010/04/21/winnie-the-pooh-and-elmer-the-elf/
Lord knows I need to think about something other than this law…. I hope these posts give y’all a wee break from the head-desking.
/returns to head-desking
JGabriel
Violet:
Welcome to Arizona! The “Guilty Until Proven Innocent” State!
.
Cat Lady
This law is going to be the ground zero of the law of unintended consequences. Ironically, this will also help to further aid in drafting a more coherent and effective federal immigration law, because Arizona is going to be the petri dish we’ll get to watch in real time. Obama keeps being handed these weirdly timed opportunities to push for the things he wants to do, due to overreach- before the election it was the financial meltdown, after Scott Brown’s election when HCR was thought to be lost it was the insurance companies’ raised premium notices, and then most recently the SEC’s shot over GS’s bow for fraud. Now this. The guy is lucky, or smart, or both. I vote both.
/Obot.
Calouste
I guess we can just wait (won’t be long) until a Spanish/French/Italian exchange student forgets to take their passport with them one day and gets beaten to shits by Araipo’s thugs for the inconvenience. That tends to make the papers over there.
Tonal Crow
@JGabriel:
And what’s wrong with that, you libtard?
MattR
@ellaesther: Or how about some Pearl Jam
(full lyrics)
kay
@Tonal Crow:
What will all the ICE-calling and transporting detainees, maybe the police won’t have time to stop any but the very foreign looking.
Maybe they’re banking on that.
LOTS of undetected law-breaking going on out there. This is a handy tool.
Dee Loralei
If one were a citizen of the state and were to be so inclined, you could prolly have a lot of fun with the “any citizen” can sue part of the bill. Call the cops every time you see the lawn service at John McCain’s house, since he thinks the bill is a fine idea. Call the cops every day JC’s got his maid in, or Jan Brewer has her pool serviced. I mean it would be bad and cause 10,000 headaches for their service employees, especially if they were illegals. But it sure would be funny to see Hayworth hauled to jail for being with an illegal, now wouldn’t it?
But anyone who’s favorite pro teams have spring or winter training there, needs to make calls to the head office cancelling season tickets or whatever until a boycott is in place and this odious law is re-written. Also anyone who donates to the DNC needs to make sure they announce now that Phoenix is out of the running for 2012 convention.
Violet
@Cat Lady:
I agree. I think this is terrible for the people of Arizona, but good for Obama since it seems he wants to push for immigration reform. We can watch this style of “reform” happen in real time. When it’s a disaster, maybe people will be more open to looking at realistic alternatives.
Pasquinade
DarrenG, great Tweets.
Please direct all types of vitriol by tweeting to retweeting to @andilinks
http://twitter.com/andilinks
Let’s see if we can send her over the edge. :)
MattR
@kay: Yeah. I can’t wait for somebody to rob a bank while the police are responding to an anonymous tip about a group of Mexicans congregating on the other side of town.
tammanycall
Check out Ezra’s interview with the Harvard alum turned Wall Streeter. Warning: Self-pity and myopia ahead.
kay
@Dee Loralei:
They certainly do. There’s going to be a rash of wingnut citizen complaints, probably hundreds, as soon as that parade rolls into town. Almost like a “sting”, right? LURE them there and then incarcerate the opposition, until Decemberish.
Violet
@Midnight Marauder:
So if you’re standing in a line at the supermarket waiting to check out, technically you could be arrested if the folks in front or behind you are illegal immigrants. Because that’s “in the company of…”
Oh, I wish someone would make those kinds of arrests. Along with sending the cops over to the house every low- to mid-level Republican in Arizona when they’ve got their lawn service, pool guys, maid service etc. around. The high ranking Republicans most likely watch that kind of thing. But the lower level folks? Catch five or ten of them “in the company of illegal immigrants” and watch the fun begin.
kay
@MattR:
I actually think it’s really sad, and here’s why. When the parents leave for work or wherever and don’t return, the kids are left alone. That’s what happened in the massive meatpacking arrests in Iowa, in 2007. The kids were sitting at the babysitter or at daycare, and their parents just did not return to get them. The illegals were then charged (not just detained or deported, under immigration law) with some obscure federal criminal statute relating to Social Security.
So, yeah, sad.
ellaesther
@MattR: Testify.
I think probably there’s some Springsteen that would do the trick, too, off of Devils and Dust and The Rising.
Cacti
If there’s anything I’m mad at Obama about, it was taking Napolitano from us and leaving us at the mercy of this accidental “Governor”.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@Cat Lady:
We are citizens of the Universe here in the LoE, and our mother earth love vibes are all the papers required. It is why we boast the only private Spaceport in the world, except for maybe New Orleans.
AZ – bad karma man,. Texas too.
Litlebritdifrnt
As far as I am concerned this law is going to cost lives. Somebody is trying to break into your house? If you are “brown” or whatever legal or not, would you call the cops? People are going to die because of this law.
gwangung
@Litlebritdifrnt: If they’re brown, then that’s a feature for them.
BDeevDad
Does showing a Hawaiian Certification of Birth get you arrested and deported to Mexico?
ChockFullO'Nuts
I’m disappointed that Brewer decided to sign the bill. Forget the police state aspects of the thing, there are considerable problems with enforceability.
Arizona, like many states, is largely broke, and has no resources for a massive new law enforcement and criminal justice campaign. At the same time, the Federal government has basically abdicated its border responsibilities and basically left the states along the Mexican border to deal with an ongoing trainwreck of illegal immigration and drug wars. The law, among other things, is a call out to Washington DC to get off its dysfunctional ass and do something about the disaster happening along our southern border.
Five years ago, I was going to take a drive and hike into the gorgeous country along the border east of Nogales, AZ … until I went there, scouted the territory and researched the status of the territory down there. I concluded that it just wasn’t safe to take on the adventure, not on the Mexican side …on the American side. Forget going into Mexico down there right now, it’s World War Three.
The situation is not sustainable and the passage of this law is a direct result. Whatever the rhetoric about the nature of the law, and that rhetoric is deserved, the law will end up serving a purpose if it results in seeing the US Government taking meaningful control of its border.
Pasquinade
New Twitter hashtag: #AZStateSlogans
http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23AZStateSlogans
Ash Can
@Bordo: If the Cubs’ front office — and those of all the MLB and MLB-affiliated teams who train and play in Arizona — are on the ball, they’re already worried about this law, for their own players’ sakes. After all, how many swarthy Hispanics are on the average baseball roster these days?
And can you imagine some horse’s-ass cop approaching Carlos Zambrano while he’s enjoying a preseason-postgame meal in a Mesa restaurant and asking him for his papers? Hoo boy.
Hell, my own hair and eyebrows are dark brown. I’d better stay the hell out of Arizona myself. I could end up in a world of trouble.
Litlebritdifrnt
I hope no one in Arizona likes lettuce, if so they are shit out of luck.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/23/1595322/some-truckers-plan-boycott-over.html
ChockFullO'Nuts
Jesus was white and blonde, and spoke sweet mid_American English, everyone knows that.
Serious commentary please.
And, don’t take my word for this.
Cacti
Arizona closed every rest area in the State for lack of funds. The roadside toilets at every point in our borders are now barricaded.
Where, pray tell, is the money coming from to train every LEO in AZ on how to spot an illegal immigrant without racial profiling?
Probably the education budget. Something our executive and legislature have a disturbing lack of.
Dee Loralei
@Violet: GMTA, I said the same thing @#70. :-)
PeakVT
It seems to me as though this law violates the full faith and credit clause or the privileges and immunities clause in the Constitution somehow. IANAL, so I’m probably wrong.
Cat Lady
@General Egali Tarian Stuck:
Then my papers are in order for Taos,where I will welcome my spirit overlords. also. too.
EdTheRed
I’m too worked up to even look at memeorandum…someone let me know when a wingnut suggests arresting Obama for failing to prove his citizenship then next time he’s in Arizona. Actually, never mind, I’m sure it’s already a meme amongst “serious” bloggers.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@Cat Lady: I do love me some Taos. Haven’t been up that way since I moved down south to Silver City in the Gilastan province of LoE.
mai naem
I am willing to bet there’s a whole lot of brown people out there who are going to try to get arrested because they’ll look at it as their lottery ticket. Just remember people do really stupid things to get on Jerry Springer for five hundred measly bucks. You think people won’t pull this for several thousand dollars?
This state happens to be more tourist dependent than the average state and this is going to hurt the tourist business big time. I know three people in various hospitality related jobs – they all are saying their income is down over 30 percent from a couple of years ago.
I am just embarrassed by my state. Oh, and if there were awards for absolutely no profile in courage Brewer would be towards the top.
Anne Laurie
@beltane:
As a neighbor, though, I’m hoping the noise over this particular piece of nuckfuttery wingnuttery will encourage the “Libertarian Statists” to abandon New Hampshire for Sherff Joe’s Whitebread Fantasyland.
sneezy
@Calouste:
I sent email to Lowden’s office yesterday offering to make a campaign contribution in chickens. No response so far.