WASHINGTON   –  “Arizona’s immigration enforcement law is an example of a state doing what the federal government will not: enforce laws determining a legal process to come to America to visit, study, work or live.  The Arizona law penalizes immigrants who do not carry identifying documents as mandated by federal law, requires law enforcement officers to ask for those documents when they suspect someone is in the country illegally, and targets employers of illegal immigrants who ignore their responsibility to check for documents when they make hiring decisions.  Whether you agree or disagree with the law, you must concede that the state has the right to pass it.

It is troubling, then, that the U.S. Department of Justice apparently intends to sue the state of Arizona to remove their law.  For attempting to protect their communities and their economy, Arizona will be persecuted by the Obama Administration.

This is about more than immigration; it is also about states’ rights to pass laws.  In this case, Arizona has passed a state law to mirror the federal immigration law, which is largely unenforced.  Even in Southern Missouri, we have plenty of examples of how federal authorities have ignored the immigration problem, to the detriment of the local economies in several of our counties.

For years during the Bush Administration, the Justice Department turned a blind eye to sanctuary cities elsewhere in the country – where illegal aliens were promised that immigration laws would not be enforced against them.  Likewise, federal authorities ignored other state and local policies which allow illegal immigrants to take advantage of opportunities to earn money and to access the American standard of living.  Just for example, ten U.S. states allow illegal aliens to attend public universities and pay in-state tuition.  The laws of local communities and the rights of states are important.  Equally important is a consistent policy from the federal government on immigration.

But the Justice Department under President Obama is taking a decidedly different approach.  They are targeting state laws with which they disagree, even as they seek to impose unheard-of federal mandates on states through policies like health care reform and environmental regulation.
As with their attempt to use the Deepwater-Horizon oil spill to force cap-and-trade energy legislation through Congress, the White House is using the fact of our broken borders to politicize and pursue an agenda that will greatly expand U.S. immigration law.  More than expanding U.S. law, the legislation the president and liberals in Congress envision would weaken the standards we use to enforce our legal immigration process.

Everyone agrees that the U.S. border must be made secure, but the president is delaying action to do so until he can piggyback legislative items that will allow many illegal aliens already in the country to stay indefinitely.   

It only makes sense that we would take a tough stance on illegal immigration in order to protect our economy, prevent drugs and crime from entering our nation, and maintain an orderly process. Laws don’t work unless they are enforced. 

The Justice Department should allow the Arizona law to stand, and the Obama Administration should end the counterproductive practice of allowing their legislative agenda to pre-empt sound policies for the nation that help us respond to emergencies.  Illegal immigration is one such emergency for our country.”