Look, I’m all for upholding immigration laws. However, the school doesn’t consider it their place to police the situation, and they’re right, it isn’t. So, they prefer to avoid the situation, and I can’t blame them for that.
They don’t have to enforce immigration laws. If kids on the team are afraid they’ll be deported by traveling to Arizona, they should either exit the team or stay home for that game. I don’t see that it serves the students well to set policy to accommodate potential illegal immigrants.
Yes, that is where IMO the school superintendent went wrong, and why I also think that there may have been some political motivation there, whether conscious or unconscious. But on the other hand, I do not believe it was a “boycott” in the sense of “we’re mad at Arizona and their law, and we’re not gonna go there, that’ll show them!” Which is what Sarah Palin is assuming and making herself look even dumber than usual getting herself involved.
I still don’t see anything wrong with a boycott. There’s a reason why the law is not heavily enforced. Because ultimately, such a far-reaching law does more harm than good. Prejudice did inspire the law, as Arizona has decided that they don’t care if it’s hurtful or not, they’re going to follow the law. (i.e., are lawful evil). They prejudged the illegals as undesirable.
The only way I could see the Arizona law as a good idea is that it shows why our current immigration law isn’t enforced. Getting rid of all illegals would hurt this country more than it would help. It costs us money to get rid of them, and then costs us more in the jobs that now have to be cut. The one person who gets the job that was taken by 3 illegals might be happy to have a job, but the productivity of the company will decrease, meaning more people that already had a job are going to have to have their pay cut. Which means less money going to the government through taxes.
Maybe it will inspire people to realize how bad current immigration law is in the first place.
So this school supports student groups traveling to China or Mexico, but thinks Arizona is too dangerous…right
The “danger” is the risk that iundocumented students could get deported. A trip to China wouldn’t carry that risk, since the undocumented students wouldn’t be able to get a passport to go in the first place.
Of course, there’s no reason that the school couldn’t tell these students that if they are “at risk” they should probably just stay home. Which, as I said, is what I think they should have done.
Yes, those who feel they are at risk should just stay home. The larger point is that the legal kids would never have been put in this predicament. We need zero illegals here. LOck down the damn borders and start putting employers in jail.
This thread isn’t about the larger point, though. This thread is about this situation, and whether or not Sarah Palin is right. You can bitch and moan that undocumented residents shouldn’t be here and shouldn’t be attending the public schools, the fact is that they are here. And, if some of them are at this particular high school and maybe even on this particular basketball team, then they are now part of the community. And the school is concerned with their community, not the federal government’s immigration problems. It’s pretty shitty to say, look, we’re gonna do what we’re gonna do, and if some of our friends and teammates get deported, well, too bad for them. These are people at this school, magellan…real people. So…yeah, I’m not in favor of the policy that was set. But, I can understand the reasoning for it. And my point here was that Sarah Palin doesn’t have the least clue, and should stay out of it instead of using it for political grandstanding.
OP here to clarify my position a bit.
For the record, I don’t support the Arizona law, because I question the constitutionality of making people prove they’re not breaking the law rather than the state having to prove they are.
But the problem is that the laws already in place are not sufficiently enforced. Illegal immigrants routinely come to the US and break our laws with impunity. No, not Hispanics; not immigrants. Illegal immigrants. So I completely understand the frustration that led to the passage of this very flawed law.
This differs from Palin in that she appears to be 100% behind this law, and anybody who’s not is out to destroy America, gosh darn it. No shades of grey here, you betcha. She’s a simpleton that way.
But where we happen to accidentally agree is that keeping a bunch of teenage girls from going there to play basketball is not an appropriate way to show opposition to the law.
I don’t buy these arguments. Any individual students – or their parents – can surely opt out of the trip if they so choose, for any reason. It’s not up to the school to decide for them. The above is just rationalization for using high school kids to make a polical statement, and it stinks.
Why should Hispanic kids be forced to go play a tournament in a place where they don’t want to go and won’t be safe?
Not on the side of illegal aliens, on the side of American citizens. The Arizona law targets American citizens for their skin color.
No one is being forced to do anything, except in the current situation. Students who would normally want to play there are being forced not to. If the school decided to play there, no one would be forced to go if he or she didn’t want to.
How do you know that any of them want to play there, or that enough of them want to play there to field a team?
It’s also a safety issue, not a political issue. Hispanic kids would not be safe there.
That’s ridiculous. Nobody was ever being “forced” to do anything.
This makes no sense. The law does not target American citizens at all. It targets non-citizens who are in this country illegally. I’ve stated that I don’t support the law, but at this point there is zero evidence that it will be used to harass Hispanic Americans or visiting teenagers. Until there are actually cases of that happening, I refuse to rush to judgement.
The law targets brown American citizens by requiring them to carry documentation of citizenship. Do believe that there is some magical way by which only undocumented residents will be harrassed under this law?
That’s the problem with this law. It’s not what it might do to undocumented residents, but what it will do to LEGAL residents. It requires the cops to assume that all brown people are illegal and to harrass them for their papers or get sued.
It’s no wonder the Hispanic kids don’t want to go there, and I fully support their decision not to go.
That’s two. You can’t field a team with two players.
Exactly my point. It should be their own decision, not their school’s.
I have yet to see a cite that enough kids disagree with the decision to filed a team, but ultimately the school is responsible for their safety, and that has to come first.
Oh, give me a break. The article I linked quoted two players in favor of going to Arizona. Several other articles include similar statements from students and parents. I looked, I really did, and found no reference to any players who did not want to go.
If you’re looking for me to provide you with a team roster, you’re really reaching here.
Cite that it requires American citizens to carry documentation?
Move the goal posts much?
At any rate, can you tell us what you meant when you said kids would be “forced” to do something?