According to Congressman Todd Akin (MO) and the Washington Times, the Obama Administration has directed the Department of Homeland Security to ignore immigration violations reported from Arizona. The number of violations reported is expected to go up following the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the provision of SB 1070 that instructs authorities to question the immigration status of people stopped or detained for other violations. The Obama Administration’s position, if shared by the Department of Homeland Security, will effectively guarantee that provision will have little to no effect on the problem it was designed to help combat.
This action should not be a surprise to anyone who has been watching this administration operate since it began. Just over a year ago we had an obvious predictor of what might happen in this exact situation. When the Obama Administration decided that the Clinton-Era “Defense of Marriage Act,” or DOMA, was not in line with its standards, President Obama simply instructed the Department of Justice to stop enforcing it. What he has directed the Department of Homeland Security to do in reference to Arizona is no different.
The results, however, could be drastically different. SB 1070 came about as a result of increased crime in the state of Arizona that was linked to illegal immigration. A refusal to help Arizona enforce laws designed to cut down on illegal immigration is likely to also result in no decrease in crime, even violent crime. Instructing the DOJ to stop enforcing DOMA was far less likely to result in anything more deadly than a few protests. A refusal to support SB 1070 could cost millions of dollars as well as the lives of Arizona citizens.
Congressman Todd Akin said it best in his statement:
It is clear that the Obama administration is willing to abdicate one of their few, true Constitutional roles in order to play politics and obtain votes. This refusal to uphold federal law is unacceptable for the chief executive of our land and should be called out for what it is – shameless political pandering to save his failed Presidency.
***update***
The Department of Homeland Security will not be answering phone calls from Arizona concerning immigration violations. However, the Justice Department will be taking phone calls ( in fact, they’ve created a dedicated hotline)…but only from people who want to report possible civil rights violations that may occur in the implementation of SB 1070.
To sum up: if you want to report a federal crime, the Administration has been instructed to ignore you. If you want to tattle on someone who is enforcing the law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Administration has provided you with a direct line to the DOJ.
How does this make any sense?
