All the News That's Fit to be Tied

I have an axe to grind, but unlike the New York Times, I freely admit it.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Arizona Suit on Flimsy Ground

The U.S. Justice Department's suit against the Arizona immigration law will be on very flimsy ground. It demonstrates an inept attempt by Justice to redefine immigration law by saying only the Federal government has the primary prerogative in establishing and enforcing immigration rules. In order for this argument to succeed the federal law would have to permit illegal immigration and accuse Arizona of invading its prerogative to establish immigration rules. Then any attempt by Arizona to establish a new immigration rule could be called an "illegal intrusion on Federal prerogatives." However Federal Law, while it may tolerate illegal immigration, does not make illegal entry within the law. It is still illegal to enter the U.S. without the proper documentation. So the Arizona law does not illegally intrude on a Federal prerogative, it merely defends the law on more stringent grounds. For example the Federal Law requires immigrants to produce documentation on demand, while the Arizona law requires an already occurring incident before documentation can be requested.