Guest Editorial

BY SEN. RUSSELL PEARCE  | MAY 22, 2013

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russell pearce1070 turns three while amnesty looms

SB-1070 is now three years old. All but a few small pieces have been upheld as constitutional by the highest court in the land, and "America's toughest anti-illegal immigration law" is not only on the books here in Arizona, but working quite well. Crime rates are dramatically down.

Our state, county and city governments have saved hundreds of millions of dollars in K-12 education with fewer illegal aliens in the classrooms, and saved tens of millions more in social services.

And there are other significant costs. More than a dozen 12 Phoenix police officers have been killed or maimed by illegal aliens. Cochise County rancher Robert Krentz was murdered during the debate on SB 1070.

Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered near the border and the list goes on.
As Sergeant Friday use to say, "Just the facts Ma'am."   The Truth about Enforcement, it actually works.  Almost immediately after HB2779 Arizona's "Fair and Legal Employment Act" unemployment dropped 2 percent in Arizona (no where else and not to be found in the Press), then along with SB1070 crime dropped 3 times the national average, employment for Americans increased, hundreds of millions in K-12 savings as enrollment dropped significantly; Arizona prison population on the decline along with jail population, homicides in Phoenix down about 50 percent, and the list goes on!!!!

According to Phoenix Law Enforcement Association; "Since SB1070, Phoenix has experienced a 30-year low crime rate. 600 police vacancies, budget cuts, and old policing strategies didn't bring about these falling crime rates. SB1070 did. When hard-working rank-and-file Phoenix Police Officers were given access to the tool of SB1070, the deterrence factor this legislation brought about was clearly instrumental in our unprecedented drop in crime. And all of this without a single civil rights, racial profiling, or biased policing complaint. To ignore the positive impact of SB1070 in the City of Phoenix is to ignore the huge elephant in the middle of the room." Press Release from Phoenix Law Enforcement Association Sept. 2011

Enough is enough.  Just enforce the laws.  SB1070 has been the law of the land for many, many years, just ignored by the feds and most local politicians.  They call a law that protects America and Americans controversial?  Apparently the deaths and maimings of Americans are not controversial; jobs taken from Americans not controversial; billions to educate, medicate and incarcerate illegal aliens not controversial; home invasions, kidnappings, car jackings, molestations, rapes, drug smuggling, human smuggling not controversial.  I am confused by the media and their stance. Whose side are they on?  Why is standing up for American – controversial?  I am not sure what part of illegal they don't get.  Shame on them.

"This country has lost control of its borders. And no country can sustain that kind of position." - President Ronald Reagan

"We are a nation of laws. We must have the courage – the fortitude – to enforce, with compassion but without apology, those laws that protect the integrity of our borders and the rights of our lawful citizens." - Senator Russell Pearce

Enforcement, as we have learned in Arizona, actually works. Just take the political handcuffs off of our law enforcement.

Please consider this: Prior to SB-1070, Arizona's crime rates were among the highest in the nation. Now, our crime rates have dropped to 30-year lows. Before SB-1070, Phoenix was ranked second in the world in kidnappings, but that figure has been reduced by half. And prior to SB-1070, Phoenix was one of the most violent cities with a catastrophic murder rate, but because of SB-1070 and the decline in Arizona's illegal alien population, homicides have been cut by more than 50 percent in just three years.

According to the Obama Department of Justice, Arizona's violent crime rate has fallen by 3-times the national average since SB-1070 took effect. And according to the Phoenix Business Journal, Arizona's drop in crime corresponds to the mass exodus of illegal aliens from our state.
Prior to 1070's passage and implementation, liberal doomsayers predicted widespread and rampant racial profiling by police. They envisioned anyone with so much as a tan being pulled over to verify their residency status. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The highly trained, professional men and women of Arizona's state, county and local law enforcement agencies have risen to this challenge, implementing Arizona's tough new law with great success - and with none of the problems envisioned by the anti-police, anti-1070 special interests.

However, despite the many advances we have made over the past several years, Arizona citizens continue to pay $2.6 billion per year to educate, medicate and incarcerate illegal aliens.  This is why I call upon my fellow citizens to join me in opposing the latest amnesty/citizenship bill being considered in Congress. According to the Heritage Foundation, the billions we pay today are but one-third of our eventual tab a decade from now if this legislation is signed into law.

Called the "Gang of Eight" plan after the group of eight U.S. Senators who proposed the legislation (including Arizona U.S. Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake), this legislation risks America's financial and national security. This bill is the epitome of everything that is wrong, backward and corrupt in Washington.

The so-called "Gang of Eight" unveiled this latest sham "comprehensive" immigration reform package under the cover of darkness. As America continued healing from the devastation of the cowardly Boston terrorist attacks, carried out by one illegal alien who should have been deported years ago for domestic violence and another who was rewarded instead with citizenship, these Senators waited until 2 a.m. to introduce a 844-page boondoggle, while most of our nation slept.

Next, the Senate Judiciary Committee scheduled its first hearings on this scheme just two days later. Does anyone believe these U.S. Senators, and the "experts" testifying before the committee, read 844-pages of legalese in just two days? No, of course not. I would have hoped the Senate would have learned with Obamacare how dangerous it is to pass a law without knowing what's in the bill. But when politics is allowed to take precedence over the American people, this is the price we will always pay.

According to the Gang of Eight, their bill (longer than a Tom Clancy novel) did not create a special path to citizenship for illegal aliens who had crossed the border illegally or who had illegally overstayed their visas. According to these same gaggle of senators, their bill will finally secure the border (when have we heard that before?), and will also vastly improve workplace enforcement.

But, as anyone who has studied Washington, Congress, and in particular, the U.S. Senate's recent dealings concerning immigration issues has learned, what Senators tell us rarely has any sort of relationship with the truth. The fact is, this sham of a bill:

• Grants amnesty to 12-25 million illegal aliens in the United States who arrived before 2012 and puts them all on a direct path to citizenship. All that's required is the Secretary of Homeland Insecurity issue PLANS to secure the border (note: Congress is not actually requiring any new border security, just more "good intentions").
• Not only rewards millions of illegal aliens with a path to citizenship, but puts those who entered before the age of 16 on an expedited path to citizenship in just five years regardless of their current age.
• Allows previously deported illegal aliens to apply for amnesty if they are the spouse, parent of child of a U.S. citizen or green card holder.
• Waives all conditions and grants immediate green cards to amnestied illegal aliens if their case is tied up in court for more than 10 years.
• Finally, and contrary to their initial promises, the Gang of Eight bill grants complete amnesty to employers who intentionally hired illegal workers using fake identification, according to U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions.
• Adds 33 million foreign job seekers – NOT to the back of the line but mixed completely into the line of 20 million Americans waiting for a full-time job.

Contrary to what the liberals believe, I support legal immigration with as much zeal as I oppose illegal immigration. America's immigration system is broken. It keeps good people out while our open borders keep letting very bad people in. The "Gang of Eight" bill isn't a serious bill. It's a political ploy put forth by people trying to win elections, not solve America's problems.

Congress has a 10 percent approval rating because this is how it conducts business. I urge my fellow Americans to oppose this bill while there is still time.

Sen. Russell Pearce is the former president of the Arizona State Senate and current board member of the Arizona Conservative club and chairman of BanAmnestyNow.com.

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Distributed by C O M M O N  S E N S E , in Arizona