Don't boycott Arizona, ex-Justice O'Connor says
O'Connor avoided passing legal judgment on the far-reaching law, which would make it a crime for immigrants to be in Arizona without valid residency papers.
Still, she said, Arizona "may have gone a little too far in its authority, in encouraging local law enforcement officers to take action" against anyone they reasonably suspect of being an illegal immigrant.
Opponents say the provision invites racial profiling.
"It doesn't read that way, but it might work that way," O'Connor said.
O'Connor, a former Arizona legislator and judge, didn't detail her reasons for opposing a boycott. But she observed that Arizona and California both suffer from the smuggling of humans and drugs from Mexico.
"It's the job of our federal, national government to secure our borders, not a job of state government," she said.
An Arizona native, it is reasonable to understand why ex-Justice O'Connor would not be pleased that anyone would boycott her state, it doesn't make me happy to advocate for the boycott of a fellow state, but there are a few instances where it is justified to take a STRONG stand, and that is IMHO in matters of National Security and Human Rights, and this "misguided" and "poorly conceived" law, as President Obama called it, has both components to it.
As a matter of National Security, it makes us less safe, now you have 10 to 12 million people in a country of 300 million who won talk to the police, how many crimes (murders, rape, domestic violence, robberies...) will go unreported and unsolved? You do the math, but my guess is a very high percentage.
As a matter of Human Rights, it is a huge blow to the claim of America being a "free" society, as there is no other place in the world were citizens have to prove their citizenship every time they come in contact with Authorities, at least not one that calls itself a democracy.
So what is the solution? Comprehensive immigration reform. Democrats, as usual, have a very good plan to solve the problem, but the question is: Will republicans step up and actually help solve the problem or are they willing in an election year, with Hispanics very unhappy at them, to keep being seen part of the problem.