Arizona immigration laws explained through Appadurai

Click here to see, in its entirety, the new immigration bill, or as it has been campaigned, "Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act".

"A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER, WITHOUT A WARRANT, MAY ARREST A PERSON IF THE OFFICER HAS PROBABLE CAUSE TO BELIEVE THAT THE PERSON HAS COMMITTED ANY PUBLIC OFFENSE THAT MAKES THE PERSON REMOVABLE FROM THE UNITED STATES."

"NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER LAW, A LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY MAY SECURELY TRANSPORT AN ALIEN WHO IS UNLAWFULLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES AND WHO IS IN THE AGENCY'S CUSTODY TO A FEDERAL FACILITY IN THIS STATE OR TO ANY OTHER POINT OF TRANSFER INTO FEDERAL CUSTODY THAT IS OUTSIDE THE JURISDICTION OF THE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY."

"IT IS UNLAWFUL FOR AN OCCUPANT OF A MOTOR VEHICLE THAT IS STOPPED ON A STREET, ROADWAY OR HIGHWAY TO ATTEMPT TO HIRE OR HIRE AND PICK UP PASSENGERS FOR WORK AT A DIFFERENT LOCATION IF THE MOTOR VEHICLE BLOCKS OR IMPEDES THE NORMAL MOVEMENT OF TRAFFIC."

"IT IS UNLAWFUL FOR A PERSON WHO IS UNLAWFULLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES AND WHO IS AN UNAUTHORIZED ALIEN TO KNOWINGLY APPLY FOR WORK, SOLICIT WORK IN A PUBLIC PLACE OR PERFORM WORK AS AN EMPLOYEE OR INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR IN THIS STATE."

The four excerpts above highlight notable changes that reflect "problems" Arizona seems to be having. The first two, in light of Appadurai, I argue, represent the anxiety of incompleteness—frustration, fear, disappointment, anger of a minority presence and the wish to create a "pure, untainted" majority—by expelling them from the country or incarcerating them where they cannot be seen by the public eye and do not share the freedoms that legal Arizona citizens do. The last two excerpts directly target day laborers and those who hire them. These are methods that also serve to get rid of minorities and to arrest legal citizens who aid them.

Appadurai speaks on the globalization of terrorism and the process towards genocide between majorities and minorities. It would seem that comparing Arizona immigration law with acts of genocide cannot be compared in any form. However, his theories of how the majority identity acts towards the minority is reflected in the state's legislation. The people of Arizona have not developed "predatory identities" (Appadurai 2006) because they do not see themselves as one ethnic singularity. However, the anxiety of incompleteness appears in the "we/they" factor which can generate "solutions" to this "problem". Appadurai explains this sociological theory, "The creation of collective others, or them's, is a requirement, through the dynamics of stereotyping and identity contrast, for helping to set boundaries and mark off the dynamics of the we" (2006:50). Not only is this often based on ethnicity and race, I argue, that the minority problem is also connected to an immigration problem. Discerning the illegals from the legal citizens is at the heart of this immigration bill. There is a presence of illegals in Arizona, but who are they? They are of Latino heritage. Are all illegals Latino? Certainly not, but illegal immigrant and Mexican have almost become interchangeable in the last decade. So in this "we/they" factor there is a dual representation: White Arizonan/Mexican and Legal Citizen/Illegal Immigrant. (The majority are white Arizonans, but that does not mean all white Arizonans express an anxiety of incompleteness.) In reconceptualizing the "we/they" question and the anxiety of incompleteness, one can see how these concepts have actively become a part of state legislation with the hope of expelling the Other.