Federal government tells Arizona it's on its own in dealing with illegal immigration issue

The Supreme Court ruled today that Arizona may not impose its own penalties for immigration violations, but said state and local police can check the legal status of those they have reasonable suspicion are in the country illegally. So how did the Obama administration respond to this? It said it's suspending existing agreements with Arizona police over enforcement of federal immigration laws, and has issued a directive telling federal authorities to decline many of the calls reporting illegal immigrants that the Homeland Security Department may get from Arizona police. In other words, Arizona is on its own in dealing with its immigration problem, yet is largely unable to enforce any immigration laws itself.
 
As reported in The Washington Times, "administration officials...told reporters they expect to see an increase in the number of calls they get from Arizona police — but that won’t change President Obama’s decision to limit who the government actually tries to detain and deport."

“We will not be issuing detainers on individuals unless they clearly meet our defined priorities,” one official said in a telephone briefing.

The existing agreements that the administration today said they would no longer honor include the seven 287(g) task force agreements with Arizona law enforcement officials, which had granted some local police the powers to enforce immigration laws.

The task forces have proved popular among many localities, but have been a hassle for President Obama because illegal immigrants-rights groups have denounced them.

Justice Antonin Scalia felt that all provisions of the Arizona law in question (SB 1070) should have been upheld. In his dissent opinion he wrote, "Arizona bears the brunt of the country's illegal immigration problem. Its citizens feel themselves under siege by large numbers of illegal immigrants who invade their property, strain their social services, and even place their lives in jeopardy. Federal officials have been unable to remedy the problem, and indeed have recently shown that they are unwilling to do so."

Scalia went on to write, "The federal government does not want to enforce the immigration laws as written, and leaves the States' borders unprotected against immigrants whom those laws would exclude."

The Obama administration is happy with the Supreme Court's decision. But it's a pretty sad day when our federal government applauds the fact that a state has no right to enforce existing laws that the federal government refuses to enforce, and then pits itself against the citizens of our country in favor of people here illegally. But that's what happens when pandering for votes of a particular electorate is more important to a president than allowing a U.S. state to protect its borders and its citizens.

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