Illegal immigrants will not face charges of trespassing

Christina Wijfjes-Smit
Examiner.com
Jul 1, 2009

In a 26-15 vote, the bill that would have criminalized being in Arizona illegally, failed to pass in the house with the needed 31 votes. This bill would have made Arizona the only state to make the presence of illegal immigrants a crime, by expanding trespassing laws.

According to the Arizona Republic, Russell Pearce, the sponsor of the defeated bill said “Some people support law breakers over law keepers. How many more officers are we going to have killed?” He further said that he will continue his effort to make this bill into law and is considering collecting signatures that would allow this bill to be on the ballot.

Opponents argue that the bill would create a dangerous climate for racial profiling and over burden police with the task of enforcing immigration, a job usually left to the federal government.

The failure of this bill ensures us that the raging debate will continue while offering no real solutions. Leaving immigration enforcement to the federal government has proved ineffective, to say the least. Arizona had an opportunity to be part of a much needed solution to a significant problem, and it failed. Those elected into office, whose first priority is to their citizens, failed. By placing this legislation on the ballot maybe, just maybe, the voices of the citizens will finally be heard rather than ignored.