I suppose whether you think this game explores Samus’ ancestry or the evil that seems to ooze from every poor of the Metroid universe is going to depend entirely upon how you feel about Sheriff Joe Arpio and Arizona’s immigration policies.
I remember back in school hearing about how one enterprising sheriff was singly-handedly revolutionizing correctional facilities. With his pink uniforms, Tent City and the idea that prison wasn’t supposed to be easy, he was held up as a sign of things to come. He’s certainly built a career on being tough on crime… but now the focus is on illegal immigration. Is he doing the job he was put there to do or is it another case of ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’? Where do you stand on immigration, legal or otherwise? What about Amnesty?
I think everybody who has an impact on immigration needs to recognize that it’s a lot more complicated than merely putting a wall up on the border.
One of the few George W. Bush ideas that I actually agreed with was the idea of a guest worker visa. When I first started working with undocumented immigrants in 1998, it wasn’t uncommon for people to come up for Mexico, or even further south, just for the agricultural season. Then they would return to wherever home was for the rest of the year. Thanks to more restrictive borders, we’re actually keeping a lot of these immigrants IN, rather than preventing them from coming.
I’m also a big fan of legislation like the DREAM act that gives the opportunity to earn legal status. With the DREAM act, undocumented immigrants that have lived here before they were age 16 would be able to get their green card either by completing a college degree, or by military service. These young people that are willing to work hard to gain their legal status, are the exact sort we should want to have stick around.
Anyway…as this is part of my job as an ELL/Bilingual teacher…I could go on and on. But that’s the gist of my take on it.
I’ve always thought that if they actually wanted to have a “hard” border and enforce immigration laws, two things would have to happen first. Those already here would have to be given a path to legal residency/citizenship. While I usually land on the side of legal immigrants, you can’t just gather everyone up and bus them across the border and expect them to be able to make it. Madness. After that, I think the only laws that need to be enforced are those which relate to the *hiring* of illegals. I’m always amazed when I see people screaming about illegals who regularly employ them. If you want to make arrests, start there.
DREAM and guest worker visas are excellent ideas which would lead to workable programs, so I’m with you there.
I think if illegal immigration is an actual problem, then it’s more of a problem on the side of the law than the fault of the immigrants. I’m honestly somewhat unversed on the topic, aside from the occasional thing I hear on the news, but it seems like most illegal immigrants are people being kept from going through the motions legally by difficult situations (language barriers, financial troubles, political tight turmoil in Cuba’s case, and so on).
The whole Arizona thing, though, is just people going crazy.
Language is a tricky issue. I’m a firm believer in the idea of language as a major unifying factor, and I do believe that if you want to live in the States that english fluency is a requirement, but it’s not like you can just flip a switch. There do need to be AFFORDABLE and PRACTICAL (availability, class times, etc) programs to deal with language issues.
How’s grad school going, by the way?
I’m surviving it, I think? My first test is in exactly a week, so that’s worrisome, but it’s all right otherwise.
I agree that language is crucial. One of the trickier things for Spanish-speaking immigrants, regardless of legal status, is it can be all too easy to get in the trap of a Spanish-speaking community, go to a Spanish-speaking church, and a Spanish-speaking grocery store and not learn English.
And also agree that gathering up all the illegal immigrants….wildly impractical. Although of course I too prefer legal immigration…hence liking the guest worker idea.
I also think we should have some sort of policy that makes it easier for professionals in areas we need, such as engineers, to get into the country.
Amen to that. I have a non-native in my employ, and the hoops required to fill the position when there was no one else to even consider for the job, have been eye-opening.
Immigrant, yes. Illegal, no. Amnesty: policy, no; reality, ??.
I’m pro-immigrant but I’m also anti-illegal. If they want to throw the criteria to the wind and start passing out visas, I’m happy. If they want to restrict to 10 people per year, I’m happy (OK, maybe not happy; that’s stupid). But those who break in are NOT somehow better than those that wait their turn and should NOT be forgiven for it. “Rounding them up” is not feasible and I don’t recommend it.
Drying up the job pool, however, is VERY easy. There’s simply no reason even the smallest business can’t afford a rudimentary internet connection, over which IDs can be checked. Alternatively, most any city has a single location that could be used to check IDs or provide a connection to do so; for example: library, employment office, unemployment office, post office, social security office, etc.
Hit the employer with something more than a couple hundred dollars if they employ anyone without checking within 24 hours.
While I feel for any innocents (minors brought over), they cannot be used to block execution of other laws so why these? I’m all for provisions to protect the minors or even foster them so they can stay. The instant they become adults, they need to apply the same way as anyone else. Go ahead and let them take citizenship tests if you want.
All deportation should be proceeded by 8 months in prison. I know of several people second-hand that actually call INS on themselves to get a free ride back home.
I can’t understand why there’s even a question. Illegal is illegal!
P.S. It’s very possible that some of this doesn’t make sense. I’ve marked this to tell me of followups so feel free to ask.
Makes sense to me.