The Yellow Chili Pepper or Project Nice Mexicans
The critics of Arizona's tough anti-illegal immigrant law is that it encourages racism and racial profiling. The law requires law enforcement officers to stop and question all suspected illegals. If a person is found to be without documentation, they are arrested and after some time in the refrigerador, deported to Mexico.
Critics of this law have two main points. First, that the law encourages discrimination and racial profiling. After all, how would you suspect illegal immigrants if it weren't for a Hispanic look or accent? The law makes all Arizona Hispanics a target for stop and ID checks, whether they are legal or not.
The second criticism is on the entire concept of illegal aliens. In the early years of this country, anyone who chose to enter could do so. There were no illegal immigration, people just came. In short order, it became obvious that the new immigrants weren't as nice and law abiding as the older ones. The government began passing laws.
Franklin Roosevelt, for example, was famous for turning away a boatload of Jewish immigrants. Those illegals attempted to flee to the United States from Germany in the months before World War II. They had no papers. Pow! Back to Germany!
American history is filled with other examples of racial and religious quotas, defining who is and who isn't legal. The morality of these laws is the topic for philosophers and historians. It does not concern us here. The law is, after all, the law.
In order to mitigate the racial criticism, however, Arizona has created a new system to identify illegals. Those here legally would not be subject to random ID checks, and possible mistaken deportation. Arizona calls the system: Project Nice Mexicans. And it works like this:
Legal Mexicans (those with citizenship or other documentation) must register with the state government. When they do so, they will receive a yellow chili pepper, registered to their name. These legals then sew the chili pepper onto their clothes, identifying themselves as legal immigrants. The police know that no matter how sinister or foreign someone looks, if he's wearing a yellow chili pepper, he's legal.
Each chili pepper will be numbered and registered. No need to scan for race or listen for Heeez instead of his or to look for swarthiness.
Arizona is proud of its good Mexicans. Many of them can even speak English. They are religious, family oriented people, who work as hard as any real America. Project Nice Mexicans will identify those people, making the job of the police... that is identifying the bad Mexicans... so much easier.
Below, we can see some nice Mexicans taking a break from a day on the farm. They are all studying English. Some of them hope to be citizens some day, proudly showing an AMERICAN passport when they go to visit their families on the other side.
The are the BAD Mexicans. See how they cluster at the fence? Could you imagine how over-run we'd be if we just open the gates and let them in? But... consider that hole on the bottom of the fence. Someone small could slip through. The illegal child of a legal, for example. And, once in, how do we find them? It's easy if we use the YELLOW CHILI PEPPER. That's why we do it.
