Lat last year, I went down to the border region of Arizona for a work trip. I'd never been to that part of the state, nor had I really spent any time in a US-Mexico border community. It seemed like every tenth vehicle was a pick-up or an armored truck with official decals belonging either to Arizona or to Homeland Security.
Along the interstate outside Tucson, I saw half a dozen traffic stops along a 10-mile stretch, police in paramilitary dress leaning into driver's side windows. When I headed south from I-10 on a state road towards Nogales, I came across a movable checkpoint. Pointed south as I was, they waved me by.
On my way back from Nogales a few days later, I took the interstate back up to Tucson to catch my flight home. Along I-19 there was another checkpoint under an overpass on the northbound side of the divider. I got in a short line of cars, each being questioned. Dogs and guys in sunglasses were standing around looking at everything and everyone passing by. When it came to be my time, I rolled down my window, and faced a border security officer. Here's a loose transcript of my interaction:
"Hi," he said.
"Hello."
"What's your citizenship?"
"US."
"This your car, man?"
"Nah, it's a rental."
"Where you from?"
"Atlanta. Headed to the airport right now to go home."
"Where you coming from today?"
"Nogales."
"How long were you in Nogales?"
"Three nights. At the Rio Rico."
"What were you doing in Nogales?"
"I was there for work. Working with the community health center there. Mariposa Health Center."
"Mariposa, huh? All right, have a good day."
For a run-in with the law, the interaction was pleasant enough, but it was a border stop, with standard border questions, and I was about 30 miles away from a border. I started wondering if they had the right to search my vehicle out there without a warrant or probable cause, as they would have down at the Nogales crossing. Could they do that even if I'd never left the United States?
These are a few examples of daily life along the border today. The state of Arizona has just endowed its police officers to make stops on the basis of suspicions around a person's immigration status, but I suspect that the hassles and indignities will be only marginally worse for the average border resident, with a few egregious abuses of the law happening against a few hapless American citizens caught out late with an accent and no ID. I also suspect that it's the part of a larger trend towards eroding freedom in the name of security.
I don't like what's going on, but something has to be done to slow or stop illegal crossings of our borders. Not only is it a matter of what's legal or fair; it's also a labor issue, a human rights issue, and a superhighway for contraband. Nations, and by extension, their citizens, have a right to decide who comes and goes. They have a right to know who's already here.
What's interesting to me are people's views on what to do about it. Among the most vociferous opponents of illegal immigration, the most common calls are for sending the National Guard to garrison and patrol the length of the border, to dedicate further billions in military presence and law enforcement. People have talked in all earnestness about nearly unlimited police powers to deport and detain those suspected of being here illegally, even stripping the citizenship of their children who were born here. Will they come knocking on my door if they suspect that I'm harboring them under my floorboards?
Most people who come here illegally come here to work. And yet somehow, enhanced IDs, or Social Security cards with biometrics are an attack on civil liberties. Run a few Google searches and you'll come up with 10 conspiracy theories for every 1 rational view on the subject. Are they afraid that a card with their finger print on it will mean that the government will know the color of their underwear? Do they honestly think the government couldn't already find out? Do they think the government cares what they do?
You already need to present a Social Security card in order to work. What's wrong with being sure it's a real one, or that it's you who owns it? Keep it in your sock drawer the rest of the time.
How can a fancy ID scare people when a military state with expanded powers to question and search individuals does not? I suspect that the answer is simple.
They're white and they don't live anywhere near a place that has checkpoints on the Interstate. Even if they did, they'd be beyond reproach. They can go about their lives as before, problem solved, liberty assured.
"Martial law in America is fine, as long as it doesn't affect me." What a narrow view of liberty. Don't Tread on Me. Me me me... my rights... me me me...
I'm sure it would be possible to root out nearly anyone who is here illegally using military and police enforcement. After all, how long would I last looking for work in North Korea?
A good system to keep track of who can work here legally would take care of a lot of our problems. It'd certainly cost less than a full-scale militarization of a 2000-mile stretch of desert. It's how most places deal with the matter. I know, I know. A Social Security card won't stop under-the-table cash businesses like prostitution, smuggling or landscaping. We'll need more security than just the Social kind, maybe a lot more. For each of those vices, there is a point at which it no longer makes sense to get it from Mexico. We can get there without violence.
People used to say that America's future was in the great expanse of the West. I now worry that it's along the rusty barbed wire and checkpoints of the South.
Sometimes civil liberties don't disappear in trenchcoats of guys in sunglasses. Sometimes they roll away in plain sight riding in the backs of Humvees.
(I suspect this is a perfectly acceptable arrangement for the guy in the driver's seat.)
Maybe a new ID system is a sacrifice of freedom. I don't think it is, but if freedom has to be given up in the name of security, we should share that sacrifice as a nation, and not leave the burden for all of us who look a little Mexican. In the long run, I think we'll all be better off for it.
