Can you prove your status?

Crackdown on immigrants empties a town and hardens views By Patrik Jonsson, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor Tue Oct 3, 5:00 AM ET STILLMORE, GA. - As Department of Homeland Security agents in black SUVs tooled up and down the dirt avenues of Stillmore, Ga., hundreds of undocumented people scattered into the woods like "flushed quail," one witness said. ... Carolyn Byrd, see[s] the ICE roundup as justified. Her son, Bennett, was a manager of the Crider plant for years. He said that Hispanics worked harder than anyone else. But they also took jobs, including his. [Yahoo News]

Not illegal immigrant, but Hispanic. Yes, there is a very significant difference. One is a question of paperwork and law, the other, a gross generalization and stereotyping hearkening back to the mid-50s. In this case, translate Negro with Hispanic.

Right now, where you are sitting, prove you are in the country legally. I am going to bet $100 that you cannot do it. More than 50% of the current legal US population cannot do it to the criteria specified in HSPD-12, the gold standard for documentation proof. You need no less than two bonafide pieces of identification and most birth certificates issued before 1980 do not qualify. Stop and think about that for a moment. Most would say that their birth certificate is their proof. Well, if it meets the untamperable standard, it might be, but most states did not really issue a birth certificate that would meet that standard until recently. Of course, we all know that drivers licenses are out (see the Real ID law if you don't believe me), most federal IDs (yup, that is what HSPD-12 is supposed to fix. Most federal IDs don't meet the verification standard). Social Security cards? Do not make me laugh - if you even know where your original card is.

Today, a passport is really the only document that will pass muster for most and is a document that the average legal American does not possess. That or a federal visa (like a green card). So do not stand around looking proud when the bus pulls up and empties out your company of supposed illegals. Chances are, they just arrested someone born in east L.A. and a citizen of the United States.