Politics

States and Cities Can Enforce Immigration Laws Right Now

by Jeff Davis. It isn’t even necessary for individual states to pass immigration laws like Arizona’s SB 1070. All that’s necessary is state law enforcement with a spine somewhat stiffer than the consistency of a wet noodle. There are all sorts of ways around the federal government’s policies.

Fox News reports: “Virginia’s top prosecutor, after issuing a legal opinion that seemed to align his state with Arizona in the battle over local immigration enforcement, told Fox News on Monday that the two states’ policies aren’t a perfect match. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued a legal opinion Friday saying state law enforcement officers are allowed to check the immigration status of anyone ‘stopped or arrested.’ ‘It is my opinion that Virginia law enforcement officers, including conservation officers (read park rangers) may, like Arizona police officers, inquire into the immigration status of persons stopped or arrested,’ he wrote. But in an interview with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, Cuccinelli underscored that in Virginia pursuing immigration offenses is up to the officers — not required, as it is under Arizona’s controversial immigration law. A federal judge blocked Arizona from implementing that provision while the Obama administrations proceeds with its lawsuit seeking to strike down the Arizona law. The Obama administration argues that Arizona does not have the authority to enforce federal immigration laws on its own.”

What about other federal laws, like the law against bank robbery? When a teller hits the silent alarm at a bank, are the local police and sheriff’s department supposed to just sit and twiddle their thumbs while somebody calls the FBI? An army of deceitful Jewish lawyers and self-proclaimed Constitutional “scholars” have crawled out of the woodwork and are trying to fool people into thinking that enforcing immigration law is something special that only the Feds can do and not comparable to catching bank robbers or counterfeiters.

The legal opinion was due to a question from a state legislator whose home county had passed an order requiring police to check the immigration status of anyone they arrest whom they have reason to believe might be an illegal alien.

This has to be the only country on the planet where the police are actually forbidden by official government policy–as in some cities such as Houston and San Francisco–from enforcing certain laws. Apparently in Obama’s America, the Feds not only deliberately fail to round up illegal aliens in most big cities, the Feds use their judicial branch to jump in and block states from helping to enforce immigration laws. Monty Python seems to be writing the script here.