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Conventional wisdom in Arizona is that it is under attack by illegal immigrants. Why else pass a draconian law that is likely to result in targeting Hispanics, who are here legally, in the state? That’s not the opinion of your liberal columnist, but the opinion of former Florida Republican Congressman and current MSNBC host Joe Scarborough. Tom Tancredo, who has made a career out of verbally bashing immigrants, thinks the Arizona law goes too far. Tancredo saying an immigration law goes too far is like Lindsay Lohan coming out for prohibition. The guy known as “Bush’s brain,” Karl Rove thinks the Arizona law may be unconstitutional. So what is going on in Arizona?

Polls show that 70 percent of Arizonans support the new law. Are the state’s law-abiding citizens being murdered in their homes by rampaging Mexicans crossing the border, or is there something in the state’s drinking water? Consider these facts from the internet website of conservative think tank CATO and “Commentary Magazine” — violent crime is down in Arizona — the lowest it has been in four decades. Crimes committed by immigrants are no greater than those by the general population.

With these statistics in hand and even many conservatives wary of the new law, it is fair to wonder what is triggering what seems to be mass hysteria in Arizona? “Commentary” points out that many of the myths perpetuated about the new immigrants are the same ones that were leveled against Italians and European Jews when they came to this country. Italians and Jews, at that time, were blamed for rising crime and were thought to be undermining the dominant Anglo-American culture. Pat Buchanan tars today’s immigrants with the same brush, even though his Irish ancestors suffered the same bias. One politician wants to place microchips in every immigrant so we can track them. He says that we can do it with animals, why not immigrants?

There is yet more irony in the timing of the new Arizona law. Liz Goodwin of “Yahoo News” points out that the number of illegal immigrants in Arizona dropped by 100,000 in the last year. Nationwide, the number of illegal immigrants declined from 2008 to ’09 by almost two million. Goodwin thinks that the new law was prompted by the murder of an Arizona rancher that might have been committed by an illegal immigrant involved in Mexico’s drug war that spilled over the border. She also believes the political primary season in Arizona is a key factor. Both Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and U.S. Sen. John McCain are facing rugged primary fights for their political lives.

I’m not arguing that illegal immigration isn’t a problem. The federal government has long been too lax in committing the proper resources to securing our borders, if only for national security reasons. I have previously written in this column that no nation can allow unfettered immigration and a first step toward a sane immigration policy would be to secure our border the best we can. But we should not forget that the business community in these border states has been complicit in the problem by enticing what they see as cheap labor to cross the border. We also must face the fact that we can never totally stop illegal immigration. As Peter Beinart, the senior writer for “The Daily Beast,” once said at a Union League lecture I attended, you can build fences 30 feet high, but people who are desperate for jobs to feed their families, will find a way to cross the border.

The anti-immigrant hysteria is not confined to Arizona. I get frequent e-mails from people who whine about illegal immigrants getting coddled here and say they are a financial drain on our resources. There are people that view a new taco stand on East Passyunk Avenue as a sign of the coming apocalypse. In real life, illegal immigrants pay social security taxes that help sustain the system. If they are taking American jobs, they are usually jobs no American wants. These immigrants pick our fruit, work in the kitchens of our favorite restaurants, act as nannies and tend to gardens for the wealthy.

The predictable calls for a boycott of all things Arizonian is just silly feel-good stuff that never accomplishes anything and punishes mostly people who have nothing to do with the new immigration law. It appears the constitutionality of the law will be challenged and many legal experts seem confident that it will be overturned. But we can learn from this legal debacle.

In the absence of tough, but humane federal immigration laws, states will act, and not always act wisely. Washington must act before other states join the witch hunt.