JAN & JOE

Arizona Governor JAN Brewer, and Maricopa County (Phoenix) Sheriff JOE Arpaio are two public servants who are often at the forefront of national news stories relating to the illegal immigration debate. Both have taken a stand against the Federal Government, and have basically said "enough is enough"!


The Governor pushed through, and signed legislation that essentially gave Arizona Law Enforcement, the ability to enforce a new law, that mirrored the federal immigration statute. This law was immediately labeled by the left as racist, even though it basically says the same thing as the existing federal law. The irony here is that if the federal government was doing its' job of securing the border, there would no need for any state to take matters into their own hands. When the U.S. Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Arizona, attempting to stop the enactment of SB1070, there was no mention of potential racial profiling, but rather, the argument was that the states should not be doing a job that is described in the U.S. Constitution as being a function of the federal government. The laughable component of this lawsuit in my opinion, is the fact that the Feds were saying to Arizona, you shouldn't be doing a job that we're supposed to do, even though we refuse to do that job. There's very little argument that the millions of people in this country illegally, are costing billions of additional dollars, and putting additional strains on everything from health care, to education. For those folks that argue against any immigration enforcement, and protest against the new Arizona law, then I say, if that's your argument, why not just let everyone come here? There has to be a limit, and we are a nation of laws, so how about the novel concept of enforcing the existing laws that we have. Most of us have ancestors that immigrated from a foreign country, and it's probably safe to say that most of those immigrants didn't climb a fence to get here. Conversely, they stood in line, and did it the right way. There's no doubt that some sort of immigration reform is necessary, but without a secure border, it's pointless to even start that debate.


Sheriff Joe is a polarizing figure, in that he doesn't care what's politically correct. He says it like it is, and enforces many of the immigration laws that the feds either won't, or can't. He also doesn't care where the criticism comes from. His position is that he was elected to enforce all laws, and not to be selective, especially when dealing with illegal immigrants. Any Sheriff who puts convicted criminals in pink jumpsuits, feeds them bologna sandwiches, and has reinvented the chain gang, is my kind of Sheriff. It's no wonder that the Maricopa County voters keep re-electing Joe Arpaio with overwhelming margins.


If it sounds like I have no compassion for those families who are here illegally, working hard, and
are productive members of society, that is not the case. There needs to be some way for those good people to walk a path toward citizenship. But, without a secure border, that should never happen.