The Left Goes After Arizona

As we observe the march of the left through the institutions of the nation, the assault on the culture and economy, the headlong efforts to rewrite the social contract in favor of an overweening state apparatus, we see the next great milestone for President Obama and his legions looming on the horizon.  

Since Mr. Obama stepped forth from the void as savior of the country, a procession of government expansions have germinated with spring-like ardor across the fruited plains.  There have been stimulus packages, government takeovers of the auto-industry, banks, insurance companies, student loans, housing and the mortgage industry, further propping up of Fannie and Freddie, and, then, of course, health care; there was an effort to overhaul energy (cap and trade), and, not to forget, eye-popping debt. 

Now, there is immigration reform.  

And, here, as damaging as the rest has been, an immigration policy based on the tendencies of the current Congress and Administration will be one likely to cause lasting damage of a kind even greater than the repeated blows struck already. 

For when Congress magically summons multitudes of freshly franchised citizens (through some version of "amnesty"), many of whom already partake in our generous social programs and align themselves firmly with the government, they can be assured of voting for the party of government, newly minted Democrat voters, in other words, by the millions, with the waving of the legislative pen.

The galvanizing event of the moment has been the signing of the Arizona Immigration Bill ("Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act") on April 23, by Governor Jan Brewer, which seeks nothing more than to enforce existing Federal laws regarding illegal immigrants. 

Arizona is not a disinterested party in the matter: it is the nation's most active thoroughfare for human and drug trafficking from our neighbor to the south.  There are an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants in Arizona, many of who wind up on public programs; they also swell the rolls of schools, hospitals, and prisons, greatly burdening them.  And cross border violence between warring drug cartels makes parts of Arizona decidedly unsafe. 

What the law states is that it is a crime to be in the state illegally.  The word "illegal" would suggest that, no?  It also calls upon police to question individuals about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are here illegally, which seems only reasonable.  If a law officer suspects someone of breaking the law, it is natural for him to question such an individual.    

Lawsuits can be filed against government offices that interfere with implementation of immigration law.  It is also holds that it is a state crime (a misdemeanor) if immigrants cannot produce documents; and, finally, police would be able to detain anyone thought to be here illegally.

So there it is. 

The outcry, as expected, has been swift and furious. 

President Obama referred to it as "misguided," and ordered the Department of Justice to determine if it was legal.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund plans to challenge it.

Mexican President, Felipe Calderon, condemned the Arizona law, stating that it "opens the door for intolerance, hate .  .  .  and abuse in law enforcement." 

Although such outbursts from our southern neighbor in regards to American law and jurisprudence are commonplace, it remains nonetheless galling to hear. 

Mexico, which enjoys tremendous natural resources, long coastlines, oil reserves, and a very prosperous tourist industry, still manages to remain a third world country; it might better devote its energies to reforming its own economy, opening itself to more competition and foreign investment, breaking up its monopolies, and ending government corruption, so that it can employ its own people rather than rail against American states that must cope with the burdens of its economic and governing failures. 

Furthermore, the Arizona law merely mirrors federal law so as to avoid the problem of "preemption" in which state law contradicts existing federal law.  Federal law already requires aliens (non-citizens) to register and be in possession of their documents and has been on the books for more than fifty years.  The Arizona law now makes a federal crime a state crime, which can be enforced by local authorities.

And there are good reasons for Arizona to take action while the Federal government sleeps. 

In Maricopa County, illegal immigrants commit 22% of felonies.  They represent about 11% of the states prison population.  Seventeen percent of those arrested by the Border Patrol in the Tucson sector have criminal records already in the US.  Illegal aliens and their US-born children comprise one fifth of the state population living in poverty, one third of those without health insurance, and one sixth of students in the state.  One third of households led by illegal aliens are on at least one social program, mainly either food aid or Medicaid.  Illegal immigrants saddle the state with huge costs, estimated at $1.3 billion a year. 

The only wonder is why each of the fifty states have not already passed their own such immigration bill, for, to greater or lesser extent, they each face the same problem.