http://www.indystar.com/article/20110522/OPINION03/105220335/Michael-P-Murphy-Indiana-has-turned-back-nativism?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Opinion|s
Since 2006, "conservatives" have cried out for state mobilization against an invasion by "illegal" immigrants. "Rule of Law," the mantra goes, should be enforced by state and local government because the federal government has failed to act.
Sadly, many of our public policymakers have confused conservatism with nativism. Our Hoosier history is scarred by episodes of intolerance so extreme as to call into question our cultural moral underpinning. Hoosiers voted overwhelmingly in 1851 for a constitution that denied state entry to even "free" blacks. Our state was for years a hotbed of "Know Nothing" anti-immigrant activity. There was the reign of the Ku Klux Klan in state government, the Marion lynching in 1930, and less than 30 years ago, the Riviera Club of Indianapolis had to be sued before it would admit black and Hispanic members.
In most cases, Hoosiers could rightly say it was a small minority acting ignorantly, who shamed our state. But our collective innocence has been shattered by a law (SB590) that has passed overwhelmingly. To paraphrase the cartoon character, Pogo, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."
What criteria could an officer reasonably use to determine illegal presence? The bill's author, in public testimony, said "if they don't speak English as well as we do." That standard would indict a former aide to the governor, a former Fortune 500 executive living in Zionsville, even a former CEO of Eli Lilly and Co. All U.S. citizens. Denying tax credits to businesses that employ illegal immigrants may be well-intended, but once again, ignores federal law that prohibits states from "fining" businesses for this offense. That is why the business community did not object to this provision. It is unenforceable, and will be overturned.