46-year-old Detlev Hager was driving down a highway in Alabama, a state that recently passed – and prides itself on – one of the toughest immigration laws in the nation. If you are suspected of not being a legal resident when a police officer has reason to stop you or confront you, if you do not have sufficient proof of legal status, off you go to jail for violating those wonderful new laws. Well, somewhere around Tuscaloosa, Detlev was pulled over because of a license plate issue on his rental car. Guessing that Detlev’s German accent might make him an undocumented visitor/worker in the state, the officer demanded proof of legal status. Pure dumb Detlev just didn’t happen to have such proof on him… so he was “properly” arrested for violating the Alabama statute that required him to carry such proof with him.
Charges were later dropped when a passport and a German driver’s license were produced, but there is extreme irony in this arrest, one of 66 such Alabama arrests since October first according to CNN (November 23rd). You see, Detlev was a senior executive with Mercedes Benz, a company that was lured to Alabama as a friendly place to do business. That Mercedes is also Alabama largest exporter of manufactured goods is not to be treated particularly lightly in this time of massive American unemployment. A billion dollar plant in Tuscaloosa assembles the M Class Mercedes SUV there.
Now comes the fun part. The November 22nd St Louis Post Dispatch (in its hard copy paper and on its stltoday.com Website) presented an open letter/editorial to Mercedes Benz about considering moving their operations to Missouri that is nothing short of precious, and I wanted to share their note with all of you blog-fans out there:
Dear Mercedes-Benz U.S. International:
We are dismayed about the unfortunate arrest of one of your company's German executives who ran afoul of Alabama's restrictive anti-immigration law. The 46-year-old executive was arrested Friday while driving a rental car because he didn't have his immigration papers with him.
How inhospitable. Carpetbaggers never have been treated very kindly in the South, though we would have thought exceptions would have been made for those with SUV factories in their carpetbags.
The head of the state's pension system, David Bronner, told the Associated Press about Alabama's immigration law: "You are giving the image, whether it's valid or not, that you don't like foreigners, period."
Here's an idea: You should move your SUV plant to Missouri.
Our state has many advantages over Alabama. We are the Show-Me State, not the "Show me your papers" state. Our Legislature is hostile on the immigration issue, but not as hostile as Alabama's or Arizona's.
Unlike in Alabama, our law enforcement officials won't check immigration status unless presenting you for incarceration on other offenses. In St. Louis, we not only welcome immigrants (outside of Valley Park), but we have a proud German heritage.
Many of our founders came from your country, and at least two elements of traditional German heritage — hard work and beer — stuck.
We realize that moving a massive automotive plant is quite the undertaking, but we happen to have space for one in Fenton and a lot of trained autoworkers. A lot.
We have a state law that offers up to $100 million in tax incentives for automobile plant expansion; in the last 12 months Ford and General Motors have expanded operations here. We probably could come up with a lot more for a brand new plant.
Missouri is not a right-to-work state, but let's face it: Judging from the new United Auto Workers contracts, there's not much to fear there. Word is, your employees in Vance, Ala., already are well paid, and your corporate boss, Daimler AG, is no stranger to dealing with auto workers' unions.
You've got two choices. Either ask your executives to carry their immigration papers at all times, or move to a state that understands gemüchlichkeit.
What a warm and fuzzy declaration of war from one state to another in these most tempestuous times. Hey, the officer was just doing his job! And again, in world of stupid slogans and simplistic solutions to exceptionally complex problems, the law of unintended consequences proves what idiotic, unthinking hate-mongers can do to destroy the livelihoods of their own neighbors, relatives and friends. Kinda makes you go mushy inside, don’t it?!
I’m Peter Dekom, and this one was just too good to resist!
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