A Case For Attrition by Enforcement

Arizona immigration law echoes U.S. law

By John Kavanagh

Arizona lies in the cross hairs of the illegal immigration problem. The success of federal border security efforts in California has made Arizona the default gateway for illegal immigrants. Worse yet, the Obama administration's policy of near non-enforcement of immigration laws has worsened Arizona's problem.

Faced with the negative consequences of illegal immigration — including crime and the high costs of incarceration, education and medical care for illegal immigrants and their children — Arizona has fought back with many popular landmark laws that have denied illegal immigrants public benefits, licenses, jobs and even bail.

These defensive efforts culminated in 2010 with the passage of SB1070, an anti-illegal immigration enforcement bill most known for its requirement that state and local law enforcement officers inquire into the immigration status of people they have already stopped for legitimate reasons, when they reasonably suspect that the persons are in the country illegally.

The Obama administration and other opponents of Arizona's law falsely argue that it unconstitutionally pre-empts federal law. Instead, SB1070 legally echoes federal law. The only thing that SB1070 pre-empts is the transient, political policy of the Obama administration to not enforce America's immigration laws.

How ironic and disingenuous that the same administration that helped create an unbearable illegal immigration problem in Arizona now intervenes in court to stop Arizona from defending itself.

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In addition, the Obama administration's position against Arizona's law flies in the face of court precedent and federal law. The enforcement of federal law, including immigration law, by state and local police officers is a longstanding point of cooperation between these levels of government and a practice that has been repeatedly sanctioned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Moreover, federal law requires federal immigration officials to respond to immigration inquiries by state and local police. So how does Arizona relying on federal law pre-empt federal law? Finally, SB1070 does not enable police to discriminate against citizens any more than do traffic stops or other legal law enforcement actions, and nobody is calling for an end to them. Besides, were a police officer to use SB1070 to discriminate, the problem is not a bad law but a bad cop.

John Kavanagh, a Republican, is a member of the Arizona House of Representatives and a sponsor of SB1070.