Obama administration response to Arizona actually justifies state law

by Kay B. Day

One of the 9/11 hijackers Hani Hanjour received flight training in Arizona. Many of the hijackers also lived in Florida at times. The 9/11 Commission hearings revealed red flags were overlooked by a number of federal agencies as well as individuals who had contact with these men. Hanjour received an F1 visa in Jeddah.He was able to obtain drivers' licenses in Florida and Arizona and state i.d. cards in Maryland and Virginia. [Photo from CIA] [Note: spelling of Hanjour's name varies among agencies.]On Thursday Democrats gave Mexico president Felipe Calderon the warmest welcome a head of state could hope for. Frequent standing ovations, largely by Democrat members of Congress, included Department of Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano. While Calderon’s address to the US Congress was a head-spinner, the aftermath is the same.

Listening to the president’s speech, I realized he is on the same page with our own president Barack Obama—loose borders, amnesty, climate change legislation and nationalized healthcare are not only dear to Calderon, they’re straight out of the Democrat playbook.

That Calderon is in favor of all of those measures US Democrats appear to endorse might give a thinking American voter pause.

And now Fox News discloses: “A top Department of Homeland Security official reportedly said his agency will not necessarily process illegal immigrants referred to them by Arizona authorities.” Fox sourced the claim to an interview the US assistant secretary of homeland security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did with The Chicago Tribune.

The DHS decision reflects blatant disregard for the US Constitution. Think about the ICE official’s statement—suppose one of the detainees has connections to terrorism. Would DHS not act on that? Apparently not if the detainee was processed in Arizona.

The administration’s constant carping and demonizing of a US state intent on ensuring public safety is probably the most egregious lapse in judgment and duty I’ve witnessed in my lifetime.

If you wade through all the leftwing rhetoric about our immigration system, the problem boils down to the federal government’s past and present refusal to do the job Americans pay government officials to do.

When the US approved amnesty in 1986, President Ronald Reagan and Congress believed this would fix the problem of undocumented migrants. This was to be the amnesty to end amnesty, or at least that’s what we voters believed.

Here’s the reality. Edwin Meese III said in an article at the conservative weekly Human Events website: “The lesson from the 1986 experience is that such an amnesty did not solve the problem. There was extensive document fraud, and the number of people applying for amnesty far exceeded projections. And there was a failure of political will to enforce new laws against employers. After a brief slowdown, illegal immigration returned to high levels and continued unabated, forming the nucleus of today’s large population of illegal aliens.”

The only reason our immigration system is broken is that the federal government has steadfastly refused to enforce laws on the books and to dedicate resources to securing America’s southern border.

Even protocol for H-2B visas is shaky. The Center for Immigration Studies pointed a problem out: “Despite credible allegations and even convictions for fraud and abuse of both H-2B workers and the program in general, neither the Dept. of Labor nor the Dept. of Homeland Security has ever barred a U.S. company from filing H-2B petitions. Some repeat offenders continue to have their petitions approved to this day.”

The H-2B visa is for foreign nationals filling non-agricultural or temporary services. The majority of companies using these visas, said, CIS, are “mid-to large-sized companies and recruiters…”

In addition to that, CIS said many of the businesses filing H-2B petitions are actually body shops—those body shops sell the workers to companies who can’t get their own H-2B workers or don’t want to bother with the  paperwork.

Arizona did what was necessary to protect the citizens of that state. The Arizona law everyone’s yelping about is not as stringent as federal law and it comes nowhere close to Mexico’s laws in terms of rigidity.

The Obama administration and Congress’ refusal to take seriously the fact our porous border represents a national security threat gives Arizona the right to do whatever is needed to keep citizens safe.

Obama’s criticism of the law and Congress’ pandering to Calderon actually support Arizona’s right to do what was necessary to deal with a federal problem the federal government has steadfastly and purposely ignored.

Had the law been enforced after the 1986 amnesty, we probably would not be having this discussion today.