A married couple I know recently posted a Facebook status that contained an uncommonly strong-worded assertion:

There isn't ANY support for the new Arizona law that isn't based on racism.

This bothered me for several days, since I generally support the AZ law although it is quite incomplete, and of course, it has no effect in Florida, which is where I live. After mulling it over for a few days, I rose to the challenge and posted a series of replies. I am reposting it here.

It's economics, pure and simple. Try this compare-and-contrast exercise of illegal Hispanic immigrants and IT "Guest Workers" on H1-B visas (mostly Indians). Both groups generally come here to pursue a better life for themselves. Both groups have very scary consequences hanging over their heads if they do "anything wrong": expulsion from this country. Businesses make more profit from BOTH groups by paying them less than others are already here legally would make doing the work. Don't forget that some of the people already here are of Hispanic and Indian descent, and often have green cards or citizenship. People with green cards and citizenship, regardless of race, are being negatively impacted as well. The only real difference is powers-that-be (business and politicians) keep this situation going in two different ways:

• In the case of the Hispanic illegals, Federal Laws are only enforced minimally (enough to keep the fear factor up, and this is one kind of fraud)
• In the case of the H1-B workers, their visa program was created explicitly to flood the job market and depress wages, despite widespread unemployment. This is the second fraud that was perpetrated on this country.

In Western Europe, the same thing is going on, except that their immigrants are Eastern Europeans, who, last time I checked, are ALSO white. The idea that this is racism alone is promoted only to keep you and I from realizing who is really doing the evil, and that is American executives who want to lower labor costs. Classic case of "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain." That man is a white American, plays lots of golf, and takes millions of dollars for himself, and is happy for everyone else to blame each other instead of him.

Next Reply: If you want to accuse anyone of being racist, it is that white American executive who is SO SURE that Hispanics and Indians will play so well into his plan to continue carpet-bombing both labor markets. He must not think very well of them, expecting them to be so timid, servile, and predictable. As for me, I have many Hispanic and Indian friends. I have taught myself Spanish over the past 6 years or so, and love Hispanic culture so much that my house is taking on Mexican-looking design features and color schemes with every remodeling project I do. I love their food and their music. So much that even my wife (who happens to be of Latin descent) thinks I'm going overboard.

Next Reply: The Arizona law is mostly a cut-and-paste job from the already existing Federal immigration law, and it's supporters simply want that law to be enforced by the state. The state enforcers can only enforce state law, so they had to do this in order to put it within their jurisdiction. It doesn't address the real problem which is the desire of businesses for cheap labor. And even then, it only addresses the situation of being here illegally. It doesn't address the damage that is being done through permissive guest-worker visas. So, at best, AZ's new law is only a half-assed reaction. Arizona's new law does not address the H1-B visa, which should have never been passed. The reason for that is the "labor shortage" it was supposed to address NEVER actually existed in the first place.