Watching all the Arizona Republican legislators falling all over themselves to prove their right-wing extremism, one has to ask if they truly understand the fall-out from what they have done.
Governor Jan Brewer is easy to understand. She is running against primary challengers and needed the publicity to burnish her right-wing creds to garner "Tea Bagger" support.
While the legislators are busy "High-Fiving" themselves, the hidden cost of their actions has yet to be seen and felt.
The biggest unintended consequence from this legislation will be the huge increase in crime.
Now you're probably asking yourself is how a piece of legislation to hunt down illegals will lead to an increase in crime?
The principle reason most police departments in Arizona were against this new law, is the increase in difficulty it presents to them in combating crime. The police rely upon the community to alert them to crimes taking place. As a rule, they have kept an arms length position on a persons legal status to gain support in the community.
Once this law goes into effect, forget about community support. Police officers are required to ascertain whether someone is in the United States legally on any call they go out on. It could be a barking dog or a domestic violence call.
Think about it. If a woman is being beaten by her husband and calls for help, the police will be required to decide if they think she is an illegal and demand papers. Why call if all it's going to get you is thrown out of the country?
We can carry this argument over to a multitude of scenarios. Your home gets broken into, better not report it. Hit and run, suck it up. The house next door gets turned into a crack-house, don't call!
All those Republican legislators patting themselves on the back this week need to be held accountable when Arizona's crime statistics jump. Because it will.