Alan Dean Foster
The New York Times
8/7/2010
“THE problem,” Luis told me, “is all these illegals. They come here expecting to find paradise, and it isn’t. You have to work hard for everything. But at least there is work.” He shook his head. He is shorter than me by five inches, but I would trade an inch or so of height for his full head of black hair. Vanity knows no borders.
Luis emigrated from southern Mexico 16 years ago. He now runs a car maintenance business where I bring my old Aurora every few months. To say that he and many immigrants like him are strongly in favor of Arizona’s new immigration law — which went into effect at the end of last month without its most controversial aspects, like immigration status checks during police stops — is like saying one or two New Yorkers dislike the Red Sox.
The part of the law not blocked by a federal judge has been in force for over a week now, though no one I know has seen any signs of it in action. Still, there have been reports of arrests and a lot of angry calls to both the federal courthouse and Gov. Jan Brewer’s office. Most people in the country have heard about that kind of thing on the news. What they don’t seem to know much about is how regular Arizonans feel about the law.
If you think angry white guys who sleep with M16’s and whose six-packs are in their pickups as opposed to on their torsos are the ones angriest at illegal immigration in Arizona, then you haven’t talked to the legal immigrants here. Did everything the hard way, they say. Earned the right to be called an American.
Read the rest at The New York Times.
H/T Ann Coulter
