Simply Unbelievble

Arizona lawmakers have really gone too far now. As if their racial profiling law of last month was not bad enough, some lawmakers are now saying that they plan to introduce a bill that would deny birth certificates to babies born to illegal immigrants in the state. This is in direct opposition the Constitution's definition of citizenship, i.e. anyone born on U.S. soil is a citizen by birth. Children of immigrants, "legal" or not, suffer enough already. Millions of U.S. citizen children of immigrants do not receive the social services they are entitled to, and many live in poverty. This law would also add hospitals to the list of places where immigrants without papers can no longer feel safe. It would mean that when a woman goes into labor, she would have to choose whether to go to the hospital to receive care in delivering her baby, knowing that if she doesn't produce papers, her child will not be a citizen. Will they then deport the woman and the baby after the birth?

Several Democrats from Arizona have already come out in opposition to the law. The way I see things playing out, the coming storm over this bill will be a tipping point in the national discourse about immigration. Either all this talk of "anchor babies" (the derogatory term for a child born to illegal immigrants) will make everyone realize how unfair and destructive this line of lawmaking is, or it will get anti-immigration forces and their allies newly energized to continue pushing their hateful agenda. I hope it's the former, but in a country where we can even talk about laws like these, I'm losing my hope that we can humanely resolve our immigration issues.