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6 lessons and a warning from Arizona

Posted: June 05, 2010
1:00 am Eastern
© 2010

There are many lessons to be drawn from the epic battle over Arizona's new immigration-enforcement law. The first lesson is that this is no longer simply a legal battle or a political debate. It is at bottom a constitutional crisis.

Article IV, Section 4 of the United States Constitution says that the United States "shall guarantee to every State a Republican Form of Government and shall protect each of them against invasion." The state of Arizona is being invaded, has so declared in the passage of S.B.1070 and in letters from the governor to the president, and the state has asked for federal help to repel that invasion.

Obama's failure to respond to Arizona's call for help is an outrage. His sending a token 1,200 National Guard troops is more than an insult to the citizens of Arizona, it is an insult to the plain words of the Constitution. Obama cares more about being popular in Mexico than in Phoenix or Houston, and that portends a constitutional crisis.

Anyone who doubts that the Mexican government has declared war on the United States need only read the speeches of Mexican officials and Mexican legislators. Mexico declares openly and unabashedly that it has the right to send as many Mexican citizens – newly baptized as "migrants" – across our borders as they choose, for the benefit of Mexico's economy, with no regard for the sovereignty of the United States.

Concerned about the impact of illegal aliens on the United States? Don't miss Tom Tancredo's book, "In Mortal Danger: The Battle for America's Border and Security"

A second lesson is that the condemnation of the new Arizona law by Mexico and its allies in Congress is in truth a condemnation of immigration law enforcement itself. The Arizona law merely authorizes local police agencies to enforce federal immigration law. The actual enforcement of federal immigration law is anathema to the open borders lobby, and this advocacy of lawlessness has now been laid bare for all America to see.

A third lesson to be drawn from the Arizona controversy is that the "racism" slander against the new law and against Arizona citizens has backfired. It is not working except in those cocoons of leftism where reality never penetrates the protective shield of political correctness – college campuses, Hollywood cocktail parties and the editorial offices of the New York Times.

Over 70 percent of Arizonans support S.B.1070, not because they are racists but because they want the invasion stopped – and America gets it, even if Katie Couric doesn't. Polls show that 88 percent of Americans want more border security. What this means for the November 2010 election is that 88 percent of politicians who continue to ignore the border invasion will be removed from office.

Last week, the open-borders purveyors of slander and bombast brought over 50,000 people to parade through the streets of Phoenix. They were a colorful spectacle, yet their message of slander and distortion did not resonate. National polls say that 88 percent of Americans want more federal investment in fences and other border controls.

A fourth lesson concerns the cynical motivations behind the Obama administration's inaction on border security. Obama's inaction is not due to incompetence or lack of resources or lack of ideas about how to secure the border. The Obama team will not secure the border because they do not believe in borders. Not only will Napolitano and Obama resist building a double-layer fence across 700 miles of open border, but they are planning to reduce the size of the Border Patrol by 2,000 agents. Border security will continue to deteriorate, and the Department of Homeland Security will continue to lie about it.

The fifth lesson is the one the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is most reluctant to heed: Amnesty is dead. The prospects for amnesty legislation in Congress always depended on public acquiescence regarding the state of border security. Arizona's action in demanding the federal government fulfill its constitutional responsibility for border security has ended that charade. It's a new ballgame.

A sixth and final lesson is also a warning to the Republican Party: Americans will not sell our national sovereignty for a spoonful of cold porridge called the Hispanic vote. In truth, it is a myth that Republicans must choose between immigration enforcement and winning Hispanic votes.

Gov. Brewer of Arizona is facing re-election in a state that is 29 percent Hispanic in voter registration, and she is not afraid to stand up for law enforcement. She remembers that in 2004, 56 percent of Arizona's Hispanic voters supported Proposition 200, which denied illegal aliens access to state welfare benefits. She also knows that if 70 percent of Arizona citizens support S.B.1070, there are hundreds of thousands of Hispanic citizens within that number.

What is even more important than numbers to Gov. Brewer, however, is the belief that protecting our Constitution is the sworn duty of all elected officials. It's something Jeb Bush and other open-borders Republicans need to think about more soberly.

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