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Rule of Law
by James Glaser April 27, 2010 
This is how Frosty Wooldridge describes what is going on in Arizona for the Border Fire Report, which is a web site about Illegal Immigration.
Whew! I'm stunned. When I got out of the Marines, I went to college at Arizona State in Tempe, Arizona. Twenty years after that I worked for a furniture company in Casa Grande, Arizona. All-in-all I spent about six years in that state. People back East or in the Midwest or even down South where I live now have no idea of how severe the illegal immigrant problem is in Arizona. When I was going to school my young daughter and I were walking into Goldwater's Department store in Scottsdale. As we opened the door, three Hispanics knocked us over as they ran out carrying arms-full of leather coats. The police came and asked me if I got a good look at them. I said I did, but it wasn't until six months later that a police detective showed up at my door with six photos of Mexicans, who, sorry, but they all looked alike. That was six months later, and I couldn't say if any of the guys in the photo line-up were the guy I saw coming out of that store. What I remember best about the whole affair was that to the people in the store and to the police, this crime was an every day thing. I can still remember the detective six months later telling me I wouldn't believe how many times a week crimes like that happened. That was back in the 1970's. Oh yeah, the Detective was Hispanic, as were a couple of the policemen who came to the department store when the whole thing happened. I went back to Arizona in the 1990's for five winters to get away from the cold of Northern Minnesota. Casa Grande was great, and I met a lot of Vietnam veterans and a lot of Mexicans. In fact, the furniture company I worked for was about 80% Mexican, and many of their workers were admittedly illegal. The people I worked with, and the Hispanics who lived in our apartment complex, were wonderful hard working people. I'll tell you something though. Not all the Mexicans were wonderful people, and just like there is a lot of Black on Black crime in many Northern cities, there is a lot of Mexican on Mexican crime in Arizona. The big difference I noticed between the 1970's when I was in college, and when I went back in the 1990's was that the Mexican population had exploded, and to be honest, I don't think there were enough wonderful hard working Mexicans there for the criminal Mexicans to prey on. So, that criminal element moved to crimes on anybody that had something they wanted. I can only imagine what it is like now. About four years ago I went back to Casa Grande to empty out a storage unit I had there. My wife and I were always planning to go back down, but she got very sick, and after she died, I didn't think I would go back, but I kept paying that monthly charge until I decided to go back. Finally, a few years later, I decided to go back. When I got there I realized I had more stuff than I could haul, so I gave some away, but I had a motor scooter that was a bit too heavy for me to lift by my self. It was about noon on a week day, and I drove down to a bar that was close by and asked if anyone wanted a couple of hours of work. Well, other that the bartender, nobody spoke English, and after he translated that I would give 40 bucks for a couple hours of work, I could find no takers. These people didn't want to work. Maybe they didn't need the work. I went to a lumber company and bought a 2x12 for a ramp and pushed that scooter into the truck by myself. People will tell you that you can't tell a book by its cover, but over the years I have been able to tell when somebody doesn't like me. Usually that is a few minutes before fists start to fly. Well I got that feeling in the bar. That was a Mexican bar, and I was a Gringo. Those people didn't want to help me out, even for good money. When I lived in Arizona the first time the tension between Hispanics and Whites didn't show itself. In the 90's I could see it, and I could see the fear that the hard working Mexicans had for the criminal Mexicans, and when I went down there this last time, that tension was right out in the open. So, while the rest of the country thinks that the new law in Arizona is outrageous and racially motivated, I think of the Rule of Law that America is supposed to live by. There are hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants in Arizona and millions of them in the rest of America. Why do we call them "Illegal?" Because they broke our law to get here and stay here. On top of that many of them continue to break our laws to make money. The truth is, Washington doesn't care to stop people from coming here illegally. Some say it is because the Democrats think they can get votes from these people. Others say the Republicans want these illegal people here because they are cheap labor for corporations. I think both of these reasons are true. The problem is that the people in Arizona, White and Hispanic, are sick of the crime that comes here with many of the people willing to break our law to get in. You break one law, and it gets easier to break another law. I think the rest of America should take a close look of what it is like to live in Arizona today before they start calling citizens in Arizona racists. What they are is sick of is the crime and the fear they have to live with, because of the hundreds of thousands of criminals who have moved into their State. America likes to tell the world that we believe in this thing called the Rule of Law, but right now Washington looks the other way when millions of aliens break our law and come here. The people of Arizona have said that they have had enough, and they passed their own Rule of Law, and they are going to enforce it. I think we should all say. "Thanks Arizona." "Thanks for being true Americans and enforcing the Rule of Law." It's like Andy of Mayberry said to Barney—but we should all say to Arizona, "Go arrest them and let's get things back to normal in Arizona." Maybe all of America will follow your courageous example. |
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