I read in the news that Phoenix has decided to boycott San Diego. I say, three cheers for Phoenix. I’m disgusted by so many cities saying that they want to punish a state for taking action to enforce the laws of the land. It’s time that these heavy-handed city councils received a pinch as a result of their underhanded, unhelpful and politically irresponsible boycotts.
These are the issues. The Constitution of the United States is a document that states which duties will belong to the federal government and which duties will belong to the states. Securing the borders and protecting the citizens from invasion is part of the duty, set forth by the supreme law of the Constitution, as belonging to the Federal Government. But the Feds are not fulfilling their responsibility as determined by law.
Mexico, on the other hand, is in the throes of terrible drug battles. Hundreds of people have been killed in border towns as drug distributing organizations fight over turf. . .across the border! There are millions and millions of American dollars at stake for these dreadful products. Central American cartels want them in our marketplace and ostensibly we don’t.
Another aspect of these border town fights is the big business of smuggling illegal immigrants across the border. Latinos find a transporter, called a coyote, who agrees to get them into the United States. Coyotes get HUGE money for their services. They are extremely cruel, inhumane and evil people. Most coyotes are affiliated with the drug cartels and force their clients to carry drugs on their backs as they hike into the major cities. They supply only enough water for an ideal crossing, but if they start to run out, they take it away from their clients to use for themselves, leaving them to die in the deserts. Their fees often represent the life savings of the illegal immigrant. Immigrants take the gamble for several reasons. If they work with a drug cartel on the other side of the border, there’s a lot more money in dealing drugs on the side where people have more money to spend. Some come because they’d rather steal from rich people than poor people. Law enforcement in AZ cite statistics that a little more than a third of the illegal immigrants already here, already have a criminal record. That means they’ve been convicted of a felony in the past.
Of course, some come to work the fields and follow the crops, or to find work in a more prosperous situation than they are likely to find in Central America. These are welcomed here, but green cards are very expensive in Central America. The US doesn’t charge much, but other nations do.
Criminals, whether they’ve already been convicted or not, don’t want to fill out forms describing their destination, employer, planned employment, anticipated address anyway. If they can afford to come, they’ll do it illegally.
Arizona was destined to lose tourism if it DIDN’T do something about the crime. It isn’t because they hate Latinos, they don’t. Law enforcement has determined that in AZ, the majority of crime is committed by illegals. The Federal government has laws in place, but does not enforce them. Did San Diego, and Los Angles and San Francisco and Chicago think that Arizona should wait until all tourism was scared away and the citizens living in constant danger of being robbed, kidnapped, burglarized or knifed before they tried to stop it? Are those boycotting cities hoping that tourists will stay away from Phoenix and come to their cities instead? Is boycotting merely a tourism promotion tool?
I note that the major cities in California probably have strong incentives in addition to garnering more tourism. If Arizona secures their border, then there is far more pressure on the California border. Illegals will stream faster into California cities instead of Arizona’s cities. California and Arizona are both already staggering under the cost of educating, feeding, protecting, medicating, and controlling crime among illegal immigrants. California is bankrupt. They can’t afford for Arizona to send more illegals their way. They’ll be forced to take some sort of unpopular action and that timing doesn’t suit their liberal politicians one bit.
I was delighted to read that Arizonans are finally retaliating against bullying from other states. San Diego is saying(cough cough) that its decision to boycott was a symbolic gesture (ahem), more than intended (cough)to impact Arizona in a real way. I’m sure that’s true. How many San Diego citizens want to leave their temperate oceanfront to go vacation in a place where the devil has air conditioning? But honey, words have consequences. If you don’t want to be taken seriously, why’d you sign up to be on the city council? Did the San Diego city council not know where Arizonans go for a break from the heat? The funny thing is that San Diego is now whining about the lost Arizona tourists. The current cost is at 2 million so far. Ouch!
Lets all boycott all the heavy handed cities that are boycotting Arizona. If you can plan a nice trip to the Grand Canyon, this is the year to do it! Arizona needs the tourism dollars and those boycotting cities need to be punished for being so disingenuous.