Stephen A. Smith: Baseball's job is not politics

If one thing is clear about Arizona's Senate Bill 1070, it is that it invites stereotyping and racial profiling - which explains why critics label it racist. Any sensible person should understand why the law - which makes it a state crime to lack immigration papers and requires police to determine whether people they stop are in this country illegally – would be deemed controversial in 2010.

But it's also clear that there are others, like Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who don't think the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act is racist at all. In fact, she thinks it's an issue of state and national security. So until the issue is clarified by her state and the federal government, Major League Baseball needs to pause with caution before involving itself - even if some of its Latin players elect to do so.

The Major League Baseball Players Association was correct last week in pointing out the negative ramifications of the new immigration law scheduled for implementation by the end of this summer. No one can knock the union for its position. But that doesn't mean it is entirely correct.

"The impact of the bill . . . is not limited to the players on one team," the union said in a statement. "The international players on the Diamondbacks work and, with their families, reside in Arizona from April through September or October. And . . . the spring training homes of half of the 30 major-league teams are now in Arizona.

"So the MLBPA opposes this law as written. We hope that the law is repealed or modified promptly. If the current law goes into effect, the MLBPA will consider additional steps necessary to protect the rights and interests of our members."

Fair enough. But what about the interest of American citizens residing in Arizona?

Don't they count, too?

The time has come to stop dancing around the elephant in the room: Illegal immigration is still a huge problem for states like Arizona. It's been a problem for quite some time.

American citizens and legal immigrants have lamented the negative sides of illegal immigration for decades. People here illegally sometimes commit crimes; do not pay taxes; and use - without paying - hospital emergency rooms as their personal health-care policies. Their actions bleed local economies dry and bankrupt states, critics say, while the sluggish federal government is too afraid of the polls to do anything more than provide lip service.

The one thing that can be said is that because both sides of the argument have legitimate points, baseball does not need to act like the NFL did in the 1980s, fighting with Arizona over its refusal to recognize the holiday honoring Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

These two are not the same issues, no matter what anyone says.

King campaigned for civil rights, and it is America's desire for everyone to have those rights.

It's not America's obligation to provide them to those who do not legally reside in this country.

According to various reports, about a million people cross the borders into the United States every year. Of those, the ones who are here legally contribute to the system, stimulate our economy, and sustain America's stature as a gorgeous mosaic. But the ones who are here illegally raise questions about the catastrophic impact they have on this country's quality of life.

Some have said that being asked to provide papers reminds them of Nazi Germany. But when you consider the desperate times we're living in, when unsecured borders certainly don't make things any better, change doesn't need to come from MLB or its players.

It's the job of our politicians to resolve these matters. That is why they were elected, after all.