Apparently a police officer in Alabama didn't get the memo that the state's new immigration law is only to be applied to brown people with foreign accents: An executive of Mercedes Benz, visiting the local car factory his company operates there, was hauled off to jail after being unable to prove he was in the country legally at a roadside stop.
Obviously, the governor of Alabama was quite embarrassed and apologetic to the German auto company over the fact that the law actually was mistakenly applied to a respectable/white/desirable immigrant unable to immediately prove his legal status in Alabama on demand. (Fortunately, the Mercedes executive was released before the waterboarding was started, so no harm done.)
When you are responsible for more than 10,000 direct and indirect jobs in the region, and has an annual economic impact of more than 1.5 billion dollars. You will get an apology from the Governor also, no matter what color you are.
ReplyDeleteMy point exactly.
ReplyDeleteIt's called the law of unintended consequences: Everybody in Alabama had a very specific type of person in mind when they voted in that draconian law, and failed to think that perhaps there were other people who would get caught in this check-every-foreigner "net" of theirs.
Hmm... Perhaps the arresting officer is a secret/stealth liberal just trying to illustrate the "whoopsie" factor inherent in such a law.
I'll bet that is what it was.
Simply put: The officer made the arrest exactly as the law required. If the governor feels compelled to apologize for (and ignore the charges associated with) even a fraction of all the people upon whom the law is enforced, then it is a bullshit law, plain and simple.
Either Alabama should enforce it as required, deal with the consequences, and hand out the fines to all foreigners charged under that law... or admit that it is a fucked up law based on xenophobia and racism and repeal it.
Either all people in Alabama (all foreigners especially) are responsible for following the law as written and are required to carry proof that they are in the country legally at all times... and should be able to prove it to a police officer at a moment's notice... or else go to jail... or Alabama should just forget the whole thing. I'm fine either way, but giving apologies to certain foreigners who break the law because the law was enforced upon them? Sounds like somebody with a guilty conscience to me.