Arizona Profiling Law

I've been wondering about this new law in Arizona where police officers are allowed to stop and interrogate anyone they think might be in the country illegally. Now, maybe I'm terribly naive, but I've always thought that the police already have the right to question anyone they chose.

I don't think I'd be insulted if the police saw me tootling around in my Ontario licenced car and decided to see if I was legally in the U.S.A. Although, if they stopped and questioned me repeatedly, it would make me mad. And maybe that's the danger of this new law, that it can easily lead to harassment.

My heart goes out to Mexicans who, out of desperation for a better life, enter the U.S. illegally. They most often become victims of unscrupulous business people who use them as slave laborers and they never really integrate successfully. But enough of them do succeed and that's what draws them there.

I don't know what the answer is to this problem. It would be interesting to know just how much illegal aliens are actually costing American taxpayers and how much they are benefiting them. It's impossible to have a completely open border because that would cause chaos in the country so something has to be done that is fair to both sides.

I've recently found out that elderly relatives brought to Canada by their legal families can receive our old age pension after living here only 10 years and I think that's robbery to citizens who have paid taxes all their lives. How and why did this law get passed? I'll bet there are laws in both Canada and the U.S. that could be changed to prevent unfair draining of resources so maybe that's the answer.

The new profiling law in Arizona leaves a bad taste in the mouth, imagining how some people's hearts would always be racing in fear every time they saw a police officer. But maybe that happens for illegals anyway, everywhere. It definitely isn't an easy choice to make, entering any country illegally, but sometimes you just "gotta do what you gotta do" for yourself and your family.

No matter which way you look at it, there's no fair answer to this problem.