Monday, June 25, 2012

The Court Blows a Raspberry at Obama

From Reuters:
(Reuters) - The Supreme Court upheld a key part of Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigrants on Monday, rejecting the Obama administration's stance that only the U.S. government should enforce immigration laws in the United States. The nation's highest court, in an opinion by Justice Anthony Kennedy, unanimously upheld the state law's most controversial aspect, requiring police officers to check the immigration status of people they stop.
Other parts of the law they did overrule, but even this is a reminder to Obama that if the federal government won't enforce federal law, states may enforce their own, non-conflicting laws.

UPDATE: And it appears that the one part of the Arizona law that the Court was prepared to uphold--the Obama Administration is going to prevent them from using.  From the June 25, 2012 Washington Times:
The Obama administration said Monday it is suspending existing agreements with Arizona police over enforcement of federal immigration laws, and said it has issued a directive telling federal authorities to decline many of the calls reporting illegal immigrants that the Homeland Security Department may get from Arizona police.
Administration officials, speaking on condition they not be named, told reporters they expect to see an increase in the number of calls they get from Arizona police — but that won’t change President Obama’s decision to limit whom the government actually tries to detain and deport.
“We will not be issuing detainers on individuals unless they clearly meet our defined priorities,” one official said in a telephone briefing.
The one part of the law that Arizona was allowed to use, checking to see if this person was an illegal alien, has now been rendered meaningless because the Obama Administration is going to deport illegal aliens if it fees like it--and they are not going to pick up the phone when Arizona calls.

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