The Supreme Court's decision to strike down most of Arizona's immigration law is a mixed bag. The state can still check on the immigration status of people the police stop on suspicion of committing a crime, but they can't ask for documentation of someone's legal status without such suspicion. This is likely to generate more lawsuits by the open-borders crowd.
The court was right to say federal law trumps state law, but what if the federal government won't enforce its own laws? Washington won't pay for the schooling and health services of these illegals and their children, further burdening the budgets of Arizona and other states.
In the end, this is all political, of course. The Obama administration wants Hispanic voters and it thinks by not enforcing immigration law it will get them.
This is why we have elections. If one administration won't enforce the law, or decides what laws it will enforce, then voters can elect another administration that will enforce all the laws.
I'm Cal Thomas in Washington.
Publication date: June 26, 2012
