Arizonans: Doing the job the feds won't do

Posted: April 27, 2010
1:00 am Eastern
By Virgil Goode
© 2010

Last week, there was some bad news and some great news on immigration. The bad news was that Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama all indicated that they might move forward with a massive amnesty plan, or "comprehensive immigration reform," as they like to call it. The great news was that Arizona's governor signed S.B. 1070, the toughest state law against illegal immigration in the country.

During my 12 years in Congress, I was incredibly frustrated by the failure of the federal government to secure our borders, cut back on foreign workers or crack down on illegal aliens and their employers. Conservatives in the Congress occasionally succeeded, preventing legislation that would have made our immigration problem even worse by stopping two massive amnesties. I am optimistic that we will be able to stop this latest push for amnesty, but stopping the amnesty does not mean that we will secure our borders.

When the federal government fails to do its job, states like Arizona have to pick up the slack. In 2004, despite being outspent 5-1, the people of Arizona overwhelmingly voted in favor of Proposition 200, which barred illegal aliens from receiving state public benefits. In 2007, the state passed the Legal Arizona Workers Act, which required all employers to use the E-Verify system to prevent hiring illegal aliens. S.B. 1070 makes it a crime under state law to be in Arizona illegally. It requires police officers to look into the legal status of people whom they believe to be illegal aliens, increases penalties against employers of illegal aliens and pre-empts government agencies from interfering with the enforcement of the law.

You can imagine the responses from the usual suspects. The National Council of La Raza says the law will "legitimize racial profiling in Arizona" and that "it goes against our laws and our values as a country," though one wonders if they mean Mexican or American laws and values. Keith Olbermann said it "mandates racial profiling." Barack Obama said it threatens "to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans" and promised to "examine the civil-rights and other implications" of the bill.

The issue of civil rights and racial profiling is just an excuse not to enforce the law. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, 78 percent of all illegal aliens are Hispanic, so they are going to be disproportionately affected by the law. However, law-abiding Hispanics who are here legally have nothing to worry about.

Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines "civil rights" as "the nonpolitical rights of a citizen; especially: the rights of personal liberty guaranteed to United States citizens by the 13th and 14th amendments to the Constitution and by acts of Congress." Illegal aliens should not be given special privileges that undermine the rights of American citizens.

Arizona is only enforcing the laws the federal government is supposed to enforce itself. The fact is that it is already illegal for employers to hire illegal aliens. Immigration and Customs Enforcement should be looking for illegal aliens. Illegal aliens are federal criminals guilty of "Unlawful Presence" under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.

While Arizona's law is a huge step forward, there are limits to what can be accomplished on the state and local level. Liberal activist judges can overturn the laws, as was the case with Proposition 187 in California. States cannot do anything about the problem of anchor babies – giving automatic U.S. citizenship to the children of illegal aliens – or the over 1 million green cards granted to legal immigrants each year. And of course, if Congress passes an amnesty, then all the illegal aliens will become legal and the law will not apply to them.

But until we elect senators, congressmen and a president who will enforce our laws, we can make the most progress in the states.

State Rep. Russell Pearce led the fight to pass both the Legal Arizona Workers Act and S.B. 1070. "Illegal is illegal," said Pearce. "We'll have less crime. We'll have lower taxes. We'll have safer neighborhoods. We'll have shorter lines in the emergency rooms. We'll have smaller classrooms."

As citizens across the nation witness these results in Arizona and in other states with anti-illegal-immigration laws like Oklahoma, Mississippi, Georgia and South Carolina, hopefully they will demand that their states pass similar laws, and eventually this will force the federal government to act.

Open-borders advocates like to repeat the lie that "illegal immigrants do the jobs Americans won't do." Now Arizona is doing the job the federal government refuses to do.

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