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DR. RON KORETZ CORNER

Think About It
Ron Koretz, P.M.

            The state of Arizona has passed legislation that prevents illegal immigrants from obtaining government services.  Furthermore, as part of the law, any business that knowingly hires such individuals is subject to punitive actions, including, after a repeated offense, the loss of its business license.  A recent story in the LA Times indicated that these actions have substantially altered the economic impact of illegal immigrants on the state.  On the other hand, and to quote the subtitle of the article in the April 5, 2008, edition, this has not happened “without bruising some citizens”.
            The story cited two examples.  In one, a naturalized citizen cannot find a job at this time because the government database, E-Verify, classifies him as a possible illegal immigrant.  This happened because, after being naturalized, he failed to register with the Social Security Administration.  To make matters worse, he subsequently lost his naturalization certificate.  While he has a valid US passport, he cannot get a job until his status on the E-verify system is cleared up.  The second case was a woman who was held in jail with illegal immigrants for 15 hours after being stopped for speeding and could not produce a driver’s license.  She now states that she is afraid to go outside.
            There is no doubt that, whenever any new bureaucratic system is put into place, problems almost invariably show up.  In the process of fixing them, innocent people will often be inconvenienced.  However, if the LA Times was trying to present all aspects of the story, they did not pick very good examples of the downside of the process.  The two citizens who were negatively impacted by the legislation were not innocent bystanders.
            The man certainly did have an opportunity to register with Social Security but he failed to do so.  He was the one who then lost his papers.  The woman did not have a driver’s license.  At least in part, both of them brought these difficulties upon themselves.  In the end, shouldn’t each of us be responsible for our actions?
Think about it

Consolidations:
Utopia Lodge No. 537 - 1981
Zenith/Mount Olive Lodge 506- 1996

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