Anyone who witnessed Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's rambling, borderline incoherent press conference on the Supreme Court's SB1070 ruling must have been struck by two things. First, she had written her speech well before actually hearing the court's verdict, and secondly she had no idea what had actually occurred in the ruling. Tellingly, Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his adviser Kris Kobach, the mastermind of the anti-immigrant state law movement were respectively silent and sober in their immediate post-ruling spin. They must have realized that the Supreme Court had just gutted the anti-immigrant state-law movement's core belief that states could create and enforce their own immigration laws.
In the one place where Kobach and his followers have tried to claim victory, in the upholding of the "papers please" portion of the law, the court has prevented Arizona from enforcing this provision until mid-July. The court in its decision left a very clear path for SB1070's opponents, to knock out this misguided provision in a lower court. Opponents of the law, such as MALDEF, are expected to ask the lower court to freeze the enforcement of SB1070 until they can get a ruling on the racial profiling issues.
While the Court did not outright kill this bill, the anti-immigrant crowd must realize that they have just witnessed the beginning of the end of the state immigration law movement.
It is looking increasingly like Kobach was wrong; states cannot draft and enforce their own immigration laws. This has not stopped Kobach from trying to spin the Courts ruling as a victory. His take is that the pieces that were struck down were "the less important provisions of the law," and because the "paper's please" provisions was upheld, the state immigration law movement has won a great victory. This is nonsense, the three provisions that were struck down where central to the ability of other states to create and enforce their own immigration laws. If upheld they would have created legal precedent for other states to pass their own immigration laws outside of the existing federal ones. The Court was clear in striking down those three provisions; the Federal Government has pre-emptive powers in enforcing our nation's immigration laws.
The "papers please" provision was upheld because it mirrored an existing relationship between the United States and local law enforcement officials. Justice Kennedy writing for the majority wrote: "status checks [do] not interfere with the federal immigration scheme; the consultation between federal and state officials is an important feature of the immigration system." Kennedy's argument underscores why the court struck down the other three provisions: they were all written outside of the federal government's immigration laws. Striking these three provisions down is a significant blow to other states thinking about passing their own immigration laws.
Kobach's other assessment that the core of SB1070 has been left intact in the "papers please" provision is only half correct. While the Court upheld this provision, they also found enough substantial questions that they remanded it to a lower court, where it may be struck down. SB1070 cannot be enforced until these questions are answered. The Supreme Court has gone so far as to say that if this part of the law is ever enforced it must be done in conjunction with help from the federal government. Furthermore, local law enforcement officers clearly do not want to enforce these laws. "We absolutely expect lawsuits..." Tucson Police Chief Villasenor said. "This will result in our officers being tied up in court rather than working on the streets to reduce crime." What good are these types of laws, if law enforcement officials don't want to enforce them?
In some ways the political blow of the Court's ruling is almost worse than the legal one. Romney is already distancing himself from his earlier position that SB1070 is a model for the nation. He now says we need a national federal solution. Romney now acknowledges that the court's ruling gives states much less authority to pass their own immigration laws. He is now calling for a comprehensive Congressional fix to our immigration system. This is bad for Kobach, how can he convince other states to do this when the standard-bearer of his immigration plan will no longer defend it publicly? More problematically for Kobach, after the Court's ruling what more can states actually do without the federal government's help? As of this writing, not much.
Follow Kristian Ramos on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kramos1841
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| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
This is how our weekend went:
NOGALES, AZ
Customs and Border Protection officers seized more than $800,000 of drugs this weekend at the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry.
A 15-year-old girl from Nogales was also taken into custody Friday for attempting to smuggling $10,000 of black tar heroin through a pedestrian lane.
Officers arrested a 41-year-old man from Nogales on Friday after they found almost 61 pounds of cocaine hidden in a compartment in the gas tank, CBP authorities said. The drugs are estimated to have a value of $552,500.
Officers also arrested two men who allegedly smuggled a combined 82 pounds of marijuana across the border in two separate incidents during the weekend. Officers estimated the value to be $40,000.
Another 33-year-old Mexican national was arrested Saturday after officers found about $208,000 of cocaine hidden near the car's radiator.
$800,000 worth of drugs siezed in one weekend, cant imagine how much got through. No there is not a problem at the borders, keep telling yourself that
January 2008 Also = The start of "The Great Recession, and our New National Deficit."
This is No Co-incidence!
The Hard Labor Immigrants did for America was the very Foundation of our Strong Economy, and it supported all other American Jobs!
The Twenty-five year period prior to the January 2008 start of Persecution, and Mass Exodus of Hispanic Immigrants was "The Most Prosperous Tmie in Total U.S. History".
"America is great because it is good, when it ceases to be good, it ceases to be great."
Alex De Tocqueville
A very Wise 1840's French Historian, and Visionary of America Today!
To: Good, and Brotherhood, not Racism, and Hate.
When we all work toghether, our Great Nation of Immigrants is "Strong"!
Sue the Federal government for having immigration laws at all because they are prejudiced?
There is a plan and an agenda and apparently it is going forward quite well. The propaganda portion is not playing as well as they like but the lawsuits seem to be doing exactly what nations and organizations who filed them wanted.
If the states can't have immigration laws because they are too likely to be used to profile, isn't the same true of federal laws? After all, what ethnicity are most deportees?
So when do the Latin nations and the ACLU, et al, file against the US government for having prejudiced laws? That must be coming sometime soon.
Fixed it for you.
"...the anti-ILLEGAL immigrant state-law movement's..."
Fixed it for you.
"...the anti-ILLEGAL immigrant crowd..."
Fixed it for you.
Interestingly, in a fit of pique, the President signed an order ending a decades-long program where local law enforcement officers were deputized to make federal immigration arrests on the same day the Supreme Court ruled on Arizona's law. Now, he didn't end the program just in Arizona; he ended it in the entire country. ICE won't respond to a call from any police agency unless the detainee is wanted for a felony.
The Supreme Court ruled that states couldn't pass and enforce their own immigration laws, but they didn't tell us how to force the federal government to enforce its own immigration laws. There isn't anything in the federal immigration laws limiting their application to wanted felony suspects. It's long past time for the states to sue the federal government to force it to enforce the law.
ECS
Cool, so you're saying that states that have sanctuary cities will now have to start complying with existing federal immigration laws and turn over illegals to ICE for immediate deportation. Bout time.
If I understand correctly, Arizona can check papers and they can insist that businesses use eVerify to ensure illegal aliens aren't hired. I can live with that. And, hopefully that instills enough fear in the illegal immigrant community to get them to leave Arizona and not cross illegally into the state.
That's the beauty of having 50 sovereign states. Some, like Arizona, can defend themselves against an unwanted invasion of illegal immigrants, while others, such as Illinois, welcome them. Pass the word. Illinois is a welcoming place.
I can only hope.
If you have to lie about the position you are taking, you are likely wrong.
How do progressives reconcile their desire to help education, the environment, energy use, and employment while letting a significant percentage of the third world come to the U.S.