Arizona's Bad Timing

The U.S. state of Arizona recently passed a bill with the intent to crack down in a big way on illegal immigration. This bill makes it illegal to be in the state if you are not a U.S. citizen, allows for law enforcement officials to go up to anyone on the street and ask for U.S. identification, and lets Arizona citizens sue the police department of the state if they do not feel they are doing their job in catching and sending back illegal immigrants. This can and will most likely lead to racial profiling by law enforcement officials in checking ids, due to Arizona's shared border with Mexico. The Roman Catholic cardinal in Los Angeles has criticized this bill as nearing Nazism. Many Americans think that Mexico is the problem neighbor of America, whose people are crashing their party. In some ways this is true. Mexico is in the middle of a large conflict against their many drug cartels. Over 20,000 people have died in Mexico due to this conflict. The War on Drugs in Mexico has proven to be very different than the one in the U.S. Barack Obama and Felipe Calderon have been working closely because this crackdown on Mexico's drug cartels is of great interest to the U.S. Mexican cartels are responsible for an estimated 70% of the drugs that enter this country. The recently named most dangerous city in the world, Juarez, sits just across our border of Texas and New Mexico. This time, more than ever, calls for the U.S. and Mexico to work as closely as ever to help prevent the violence from continuing in Mexico, as well as spreading across our borders which is a strong possibility. Our government has pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to Mexico to help with military supplies as well as intelligence and troop training. The Merida Initiative is a joint security cooperation between Mexico, the U.S., and other Central American countries to help combat cartels and drugs. Arizona has chosen a poor time to pass the bill. President Calderon has openly stated his outrage over the bill, saying, "(the bill) opens the door to intolerance, hate, discrimination and abuse in law enforcement. Nobody can sit around with their arms crossed in the face of decisions that so clearly affect our countrymen" He is right. Mexico's state of Sonora which borders Arizona has pulled out of its annual Sonora-Arizona Commission, a cooperation meeting that has been held between the two states for over four decades. Mexico accounts for close to two-thirds of Arizona's exports. This will be no longer. Many expect the U.S. - Mexico relationship to deteriorate at a time where it must be especially strong for the safety of North America.

This bill by Arizona, constitutional or unconstitutional, has come at the worst time. It will cause the economy of Arizona to deteriorate in the middle of the recession which is starting to get better. It will hurt the relationship between our two countries when we need to be strong and focus our efforts on helping Mexico break up their drug cartels, decrease their violence, and keep drugs off our streets.