The Obama administration is making good on at least one promise: taking the State of Arizona to court over its immigration bill. The DOJ alleges:
A Justice Department statement said it was challenging the new state law in the courts because it hampered the authority of the administration of President Barack Obama to enforce national immigration policy.
It also placed significant “burdens” on federal agencies and law enforcement, the department argued.
Federal laws do not permit the development of a “patchwork of state and local immigration policies,” it said.
“Setting immigration policy and enforcing immigration laws is a national responsibility,” US Attorney General Eric Holder said in the statement.
Arizona, the Justice Department said, “crossed a constitutional line.”
There’s so much crap coming from the administration and the DOJ about this that one has to wear boots to wade through.
Fact: The federal government has not been enforcing its immigration laws since waaaaaay back (Republicans and Democrats are both to be blamed).
Fact: The Arizona legislation makes what’s already illegal under federal law illegal under state law.
So the claims from the Justice Department are pure spin. If Eric Holder knows that it’s a “national responsibility” then why isn’t he serious about the illegal alien invasion, especially from south of our border? Instead of working with Arizona and other border states, he decides to fight this in court? Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has publicly stated that she will not back down and will take this all the way to the Supreme Court if needed. Good for her!
Pure and simple, the administration is politicizing this. Maybe as a distraction against the public outcry of Obama’s handling of the BP oil spill, and definitely as a vehicle to stir up sentiments among immigrants, legal or not, as the November elections are just a few more months away. We all know — and various polls suggest — that the Democrats are in trouble, and whenever they face an election challenge they either reach out to the unions or the immigrants (or both).
I think President Obama and Eric Holder may have overplayed this hand, however. The Arizona law has majority support from the American people, and many border states are contemplating similar legislation with strong support. Politicians up for re-election in the Western states better pay serious attention to where this is going. In a time when countless municipalities are short on money and even facing bankruptcy, they don’t want illegal aliens further burdening the health care, education, and law enforcement systems.
See you in court!
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