Anti-Immigrant Law Passes in Arizona, 'We Will Not Comply'

I just bought a bumper sticker for my car. It read: "I provide refuge to illegal immigrants." I had it custom made.
My wife recommended a better design: A yellow Star of David with the word "Immigrant" printed inside.
I can only recommend that Arizona citizens who oppose this law put themselves at risk in their outcry by refusing to provide papers to police officers requesting them.
This could force costs upon the system which make it prohibitively expensive to continue enforcement. It is a subversive and non-violent way to say, "This is a bad law."
If I get the chance to drive through The People's Republic of Arizona anytime soon, I will be sure to hide my ID where the cops can't find it.
Nathanael Snow

Thanks for posting Allison. Many of us who were in Phoenix in January are committed to support the faith based community there in any way possible. One said she would close her organization in CA to go to AZ in the event that our brothers and sisters in AZ are arrested for providing service to love our neighbors there. Another, old enough to remember the civil rights struggles of the past, suggested that we go two-by-two until the jails in AZ are filled. Until then we pray for safety and reason to prevail. MALDEF and ACLU have committed to go to court on behalf of immigrants.

Sheriff Arpaio can now establish a police model not seen since the 1930's and 1940's in Germany....a national embarrassment.

I believe there should be a national tourism boycott of Arizona until it removes this statute from its books.

I have lived in Arizona for 37 years, and I am ashamed today that this law was passed and signed into law.

I understand following in Christ's footsteps and loving everyone regardless of their legal status, as we are all made in His image. I also understand the need to have a good process for allowing legal immigration in the U.S. (not any easy thing to oversee and I'm sure there are many flaws in current system!). I also understand the need to not too encourage illegal activity and potentially unjust use of scarce resources. As a physician, I encounter many folks who come to the purpose of the U.S. for free or heavily subsized health care. I also understand the elderly who cry foul when their federal health care benefits are cut and they contributed much money to the system. These are complex issues. I'm grateful for a community of listening and loving believers to help sort through these issues with faith. Jesus help us, as we sort through these times both indivually and communally!

This isn't a big deal.

I used to travel on business to Munich regularly. The train ride from the airport to downtown was ~1 hour. Twice I was asked for my fare ticket and twice, after realizing that my German was good for ordering beer and pretzels and not much else, I was asked for my passport...not my ID...my passport. (Note that EVERYONE is asked for a fare ticket.)

I'll tell ya', I'm pretty conservative but I really don't care what kind of guest worker/green card/citizenship qualification we choose to debate and or implement. Really, do whatever seems right. Just know that without a rule of law AND competent enforcement, governing access to and through our borders, anarchy will gradually encroach...as it has already in So Cal (where I grew up) and in So. Arizona.

And BTW, Jesus also said, "...render to Ceasar..." Personally, I don't find quoting scripture to suit sensibilities to be helpful.

She is an embarrassment to all Americans.
Thanks for taking the decades of hard work Americans have put in for racial equality and flushing them down the toilet Gov Brewer

I have some Photoshop talent and am creating this Yellow Star image with AZ SB1070 at the bottom. It will be done within a few hours and may be downloaded for free from my artist profile at http://maryofmagdala.deviantart.com/. I will include a solid-background large image for use as a T-Shirt design, a medium bumper-sticker design, and a PNG design with a transparent background for use on websites.

I suggest that were I to use the kind of language in this post that the Rev. Wallis used in his articles before and after Gov. Brewer signed the bill, my post would fail the comment code of conduct adopted by the administrator of this blog.

It is perfectly appropriate--and the responsibility of every responsible citizen--to dissent, to disagree and to challenge the actions of our government. It is another thing altogether to label this or any legislation as "meanspirited," "sin" and "immoral." To do so is to adopt the vocabulary of the divisive fringe.

Perhaps if we are to live out our Lord's commandment to love our neighbor, we should recognize that the people who supported the enactment of the Arizona immigration bill are our neighbors, too.

If I had the means, I would single-handedly eradicate homelessness and hunger in my community. Were I to set out to do that without recognizing my limitations, my efforts to love my homeless and hungry neighbor could jeopardize my ability to meet my other obligations.

In advocating a "throw the doors open" approach, those who oppose efforts to limit illegal immigration would strain limited resources and jeopardize our ability to meet the very real needs of those who have been our neighbors for a very long time.

Hey. Don't worry about it. It won't last long. It will destroy the econcomy there- something the convervatives won't like. All the illegals will go to neighboring states. People such as myself, born here to a foreign born dad, who look "foreign" won't go to Arizona to visit so there goes their tourism industry. My cousin always goes there to a surgical conference every year. He's an MD. Why should he risk possibly being arrested? Probably many other "foreign" people will no longer hold conferences there- will ruin hotel/restaurant industry. I think the conservatives will end up getting rid of it when they see what happens.

Someone deleted the comment I left on this, maybe an admin could tell me how it violated their Code of Conduct?

Here's the comment, save it off before it gets deleted again:

You can't trust Jim Wallis, and I'll tell you why. He supports "reform", and that "reform" is being sold as having enforcement provisions. Yet, he wants to completely undercut the enforcement provisions in what he supports.

If someone promotes, say, fining polluters but doesn't tell you about all the loopholes, can you trust them? Of course not.

The huge loophole Wallis wants is on the first video, where he says "enforcement that breaks up families is unacceptable to us." What that means is that anyone who came here illegally and had a U.S. citizen child - as millions have - would get a ticket to stay. Mexicans aren't dumb, even if many like Wallis treat them like children. They'll quickly figure out the "Wallis rule" and know that if they have a child here they won't be deported.

And, Wallis isn't telling you about that.

Not only that, but Wallis also engages in false compassion: he complains about border deaths while supporting policies that will lead to even more border deaths.

Please go to one of his appearances and press him on what he's not revealing and on what's at the link on video, then upload it to Youtube.

Strong statements were made before the signing of the bill were made before that, too. Jim issued one in a previous post that is very similar. The words aren't meant to be personal insults and they're not obscene. They're in the tradition of the prophets, who called like God saw it.
I don't care from what race, tradition, or country someone comes from when they need help, and I don't have or need anything so valuable that it can't be spared to feed someone or save his/her life. Carrying an ID card is prejudicial if it's only required of some people and racial profiling is a sin. Pulling out "Render unto Caesar...to talk about this immigration law is proof-texting; Jesus saying "Love your neighbor..love one another...greater love has no person than giving his/her life for a neighbor..." and Jesus' other teachings are pretty much the sum total of the teachings of the New Testament. I live in New Mexico and we don't have those laws. We have people who feel strongly about immigration from all different perspectives, but the people and government of New Mexico haven't seen it necessary to pass laws based on hatred and suspicion and prejudice. There just isn't anything more important than walking in Christ's footsteps -- he chose to die rather than rule. I can't see any other acceptable model to follow.

Used my Photoshop skill to make yellow star of David with "Immigrant" written inside it is done. Images up and ready for download and printing. Can be used for T-Shirts, bumper stickers, stich, and websites. All are free. http://maryofmagdala.deviantart.com/art/No-To-N...

"Mexicans aren't dumb."
Classy. Real sophisticated and educated right there brother. </sarcasm>
Try using the word Hispanic next time and maybe you won't seem like a bigot. Although I guess you probably don't mind being seen as a bigot.

"Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's."
Unless I'm very much mistaken, and I know I'm not, what He meant was obey the government so long as it does not get in the way of obeying God. I'm PRETTY SURE He also said something about loving our neighbor and showing compassion to the poor and etc. But I could be wrong.

Except that people from Mexico typically like to be called Mexican rather than Hispanic. Hispanic is a term created by government red tape.

SOURCE: My Latino Studies Professor.

Violence at the Arizona border with Mexico has reached epidemic proportions.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/64385

Where's the compassion in allowing that to continue?

"Reform" with no commitment to enforce the law is merely a joke.

First, CNS News is not in any way, an objective news source. It's about as unbiased as Worldnet Daily.

With regard to the ridiculous law in Arizona, I don't see how anyone who calls him/herself a liberatarian or conservative could support this law. Regardless of how you feel about immigration policy, you must consider this: 1/3 of the population of Arizona, the LEGAL population, is of hispanic/latino descent. Therefore this law places "legal" citizens of that state, and of this country in position where their basic civil rights can be violated any time a law enforcement officer deems that there is "reasonable suspicion" to do so.

For anyone out there who's interested in throwing a "Tea Party" shouldn't something like this be at the top of the list of complaints?

I don't think Rev. Wallis words were at all unloving. Words matter, but it also matters how they are used. I'd like to think that when the prophets compared ancient Israel to a "lady of the night", or when Jesus called the Pharisees a brood of vipers, that they did so in the same tone of quiet sadness that you hear from Jim Wallis when he calls these kinds of laws sinful. The texts don't give us voice tone, so we can't know for certain, but we do know that Jeremiah and Jesus also wept over Jerusalem.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you do it in the right tone, and in the right context, there is noting wrong with calling a spade a spade. If a law flagrantly violates God's requirements, let's call it what it is: sinful.

Final point: notice that Jim is refraining from even going as far as the prophets and Jesus: when he calls names, he does it to laws and systems, not people. SB 1070 doesn't have feelings.

So we should go on enforcing evil, immoral laws in the hope that there will be something good from it? I guess that works if the goal is to get society mad about good people getting thrown in jail for doing the right thing, but if I were a police officer in Arizona I'd be looking for a new job right about now.

If they see the connection. They seem to be pretty good at blaming the vulnerable for economic conditions they have nothing to do with, don't you think? It's the WELFARE QUEENS that are taking our tax dollars (even though welfare is less than 4% of the federal budget), not military spending!

"What that means is that anyone who came here illegally and had a U.S. citizen child - as millions have - would get a ticket to stay....They'll quickly figure out the "Wallis rule" and know that if they have a child here they won't be deported. And, Wallis isn't telling you about that."

Jim Wallis may not be telling us about that (I haven't read all he's said on the subject, so I'm not sure), but I'll say it LOUD AND PROUD. These honest, hard-working, and (gasp) tax-paying people are contributing to our society and deserve to be here as much as we do. I FULLY SUPPORT giving them a ticket to stay, just like Joseppi Patti, my undocumented Great-Grandfather from Italy, got a ticket to stay.

"Take up YOUR cross and follow me'. Don NOT force others, who disagree with your politics, to take up YOUR cross for YOU. I don't support arrogance. Mexican's demand that which is not theirs and don't even say "please". I would rather give my support to immigrants who obeyed and have respect for law and waited their turn. That is "fair", to use president Obama's word. With weepy eyes you calmly take money from Americans hard pressed to pay their bills to boost your self-centered sense of personal worth in religious pride. "Oh I am so holy. I support the "poor" criminals taking money from honest taxpayers." You are spiritually immature and pathetic. Will Jesus "know you" when you meet him, when BS won't count for a thing and you finally face yourself honestly? God hates religious pride more than any sin! Read Luke and learn humility.

I"m really beginning to think the wisest book written in the last 25 years is Robert Fulghum's "All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten." I was told, at that age, never to point fingers at anyone else because there would be three fingers pointing back at myself.

You say:

"I don't support arrogance. "

Then you say, mocking Jim Wallis

"Oh I am so holy."

This is followed by:

"You are spiritually immature and pathetic. Will Jesus "know you" when you meet him, when BS won't count for a thing and you finally face yourself honestly?"

Then you end it with:

"God hates religious pride more than any sin!"

............

I'm curious...do you see the irony in your statements, Mr. Kettle?

To be clear, I'm being tongue in cheek.

In all seriousness, however. Your words do not sing with the love and compassion of Christ, but rather they betray some pretty deep hurt and/or hate. I pray God's peace fill your life.