Here is Law Professor Ann Althouse's headline at her post:
[T]he Arizona law would place a undue burden on their ability to enforce immigration laws nationwide, because Arizona police are expected to refer so many illegal immigrants to federal authorities.She is quoting a Tuesday WashPost article.♠ Comments are at 169 as I put together this post.
Here is the Department of Justice webpage, with relevant links. The key link is to the petition.♥
Ms Althouse asks:
The courts are supposed to buy the paradox: Because the federal government can't do very much about a problem — or chooses not to do much — an individual state can't act either, no matter how bad things get within that state."No matter how bad things get with that state." We need to think about that for a moment. We need to think about the implications of democracy failing in Mexico and the drug lords taking over. It may sound far fetched, but it is not out of the question. What is the plan? Some background follows.
Here is the new four star commander of US Northern Command (NORTHCOM), Admiral James A Winnefeld, Jr, talking about the issue of drug violence along the Mexican border:
On Mexican drug violence, Adm. Winnefeld said he has increased the priority for dealing with drug cartels, which continue to operate in the United States. "I'm ramping up the priority on our very close partnership with Mexico, a very interesting nation with some very courageous political leadership right now," he said.The drug war is turning worse and inching closer. In June we had this news item on 39 killed in two separate incidents. Then there is this about drug gangs trying to influence upcoming elections.
Adm. Winnefeld said the "struggle" over Mexican drug trafficking and violence is taking place in several different areas, or "theaters," including inside the United States, in Mexico, along the U.S. border with Mexico and near Mexico's southern borders, as well as in the seas near the U.S. and Mexican coasts.
"So as you examine those theaters, where are the decisive theaters? The two real decisive theaters are the U.S. and Mexico," he said. "Inside the U.S., [it's] reducing demand for drugs, for example, with reducing the movement of weapons and cash to the south into Mexico, and also going after the tentacles of the cartel's networks that have found their way into the U.S., to include gangs and the like."
Drug hitmen have forced a string of candidates out of municipal races in two states on the U.S. border and killed at least one mayoral hopeful, using terror to try to dictate who will run cities and towns along key smuggling routes into the United States.So, we have one analyst with this tentative assessment of the situation:
The point of this study is that the United States and other states in the Western Hemisphere face extensively networked, agile criminal insurgencies that are challenging directly political institutions, security and even democratic culture. And we are losing. Unless the course of the conflict is reversed, our institutions and those of our neighbors may eventually be suborned by the corrosive effects of corruption, intimidation and decay."And we are losing." This paragraph says that things are bad and getting worse and we need to pay attention. This paragraph says "we are losing". But, that is more policy than law and is more about November than about the DOJ bringing suit.
Thinking about the possible futures we face, one is a future where the number of illegal immigrants in the United States is not 12 million, plus or minus, but something like 20 million or 30 million, as Mexicans flee the violence in their own nation and the collapse of their democratic institutions (Mexico is a nation of a bit over 111 million).
In Texas or New York illegal immigrants are useful, hard working, members of the community. But, if the drug war moves North they will not just be more victims, but will become pawns in that war, since their status will make them vulnerable to intimidation.
Then there is this item about Rhode Island already employing the rules that Arizona is still waiting to employ.
And, the author cites some case known as Muehler v. Mena. (I have got to go to law school, just to be moderately informed as a US Citizen.) The author points out that Muehler v. Mena gives the police the authority to ask detained individuals about their immigration status—SCOTUS ruling unanimously.
And, will we see discussion of Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3?
Finally for those who have made it this far, I have put forward my approach to illegal immigration. It is a three part plan and includes a path to citizenship. It is from two months ago, but is, I think, still sound.
Regards — Cliff
♠ This is the updated Wednesday article in The WashPost.
♥ I loved the bringing in of the Interstate Commerce Clause. "67. Section 5 of S.B. 1070 (adding Ariz. Rev. Stat. 13-2929) restricts the interstate movement of aliens in a manner that is prohibited by Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution." Like that is a bad thing.
7 comments:
The WSJ blog is well over 500 with white hot discussions about the lawsuit and the law.
At its core, the purpose of the Holder suit is political....period. The whole thrust of the suit is a court test of the concept of an Imperial Presidency. And frankly, that is a throw-away. Obama and his Chicago thugs are waging this battle at this time for November election purposes. Nobody could be that cynical?? Sure they could...and are.....I don't believe that there is any sincere expectation of winning the court case over AZ...but if they do win...so much the better because it validates that an Imperial President is indeed a possibility if not a probability. This is how narcissism works in political life.
More importantly however is that it keep the whole topic of "immigration" before the country in a way that allows the Democrats to continue to brand the Republicans as a racist, do nothing crowd (well other than pass restrictive laws), who are more interested in making rich people rich than taking care of the poor and downtrodden. As if to bolster that very well engineered and nurtured impression, Mexico's Obama equivalent has announced recently that the AZ immigration policy (which it isn't....it is a law to catch CRIMINALS) deprives hundreds of thousands of Mexicans of their human and economic rights. HUH????? So now we are responsible for caring for Mexican rights?
And I don't buy the "illegals are good workers who add to our economy." BS. They impact the unemployment rate negatively, they do not pay any taxes on wages earned, and as such, they are a crippling component of our failing socioeconomic situation.
Can't stop the hoardes of Mexicans streaming north? Sure we can...many other nations have done it throughout history....very successfully. BUT...it takes national will...and we simply don't have it. In much the same way...we lack the national will to solve our other problems because we've suddenly become "members of the world community" and thus subject to the wiles of "world opinion."
This AM Obama went on the air to trumpet his "new and improved" plan to increase exports and thus increase the economy. Export what??? What do we build that is "exportable?" That dog doesn't hunt. The few "manufacturing" capabilities we have are much more "assembly" functions in which we take parts produced by other countries and glue or screw them all together. But....we don't actually MAKE them.....and what little we "make" has to compete with other producers in the world making the same thing much less expensively.
So...in the end....the AZ case is much more than a simple protest case. It is a symptom of much greater ane egregious problems that infect American society and threaten to render it little more than one more footnote in history.
We're insolvent, and we're losing a "drug war". Both problems are significantly mitigated by legalizing and taxing the distribution of marijuana. Why are we so afraid to succeed at this???
Recent anecdotes from Portugal would seem to indicate that SOME people are succeeding at this.
Why are we so afraid to succeed at this???
To Mr. Crossland:
The "imperial" executive branch has been a pet project of so many administrations that they're almost too numerous to count. Nixon and Bush/Cheney are two that I like to remind conservatives stand comparison with present shenanigans. My serious complaint is that you and the rest of the conservative types were silent (and even encouraging them on) when the malfeasance had an R pasted on it. My sincere request is that you're still standing with the rest of us when the next R criminal tries it again. or, put another way: hypocrisy is not an attractive quality.
Regarding immigration, I am astounded at the paranoia about people who want to be here for the right reasons, and the inability of so many people to distinguish the difference. For one thing, illegals do NOT impact the unemployment rate negatively, as has been shown repeatedly with migrant farming jobs and other occupations that US citizens simply won't take. (Chicken plants in NC are another anecdote I recall, but they're everywhere, to the point where AZ businesspeople are complaining about the inability to fill jobs). "Crippling component" is hogwash, and it's offensive to hear things like this repeated.
Fact: The crime rate in AZ is dropping. Fact: Illegal workers do not drain the economy. Fact: It's lawbreaking, and has to be addressed on that simple level, and it needs not be spun to hysteria in order for that to happen.
NAFTA has hurt the economy in Mexico, and bolstered those of the US and Canada. Labor flowing north to aid our advantage in production is a natural consequence. That's a GOOD thing for us.
Or, we can further screw our trade imbalance, and alienate the one market in the world where we're actually still winning.
Kad, I actually agree with almost all of your commentary. And I am far from hypocritical about the imperial designs of sitting presidents. It is just that THIS one brings to the fight a particularly disgusting and disturbing element. My fear is that for him, it isn't so much "imperialism" as it is the despotic and potentially dictatorial goals that are only now becoming more apparent. America may never get rid of him.
I never have...nor ever will....even attempt to perpetuate the myth that "undocumented democrat voters" don't contribute to the economy. They do contribute in that they aid in production. What I DO object to is that they don't pay taxes as we do...and therefore...are not "paying their way" as we do....relying instead on "honest" citizens to pay for their care and in some cases...feeding.
I am disgusted beyond words that employers are PERMITTED by both D and R political magic and convenient blindness to the maltreatment of people simply because if they protest, they not only lose their income...but perhaps their "freedom." I grew up working in the fields right alongside braceros...and they were honest caring folks....a little crazy on the firewater in the evenings...but then...that is perhaps a defective gene inherited by many...if not most. I grew up with them in fields...and later in the orchards of my own family. The shacks that were provided to them to live in were at best disgusting hovels....and I was vocal about my disgust....and my father and uncles slapped me down for it....because it was "the way things are" and because during the 30's...they lived under the same conditions.
America's history of governance...particularly at the Federal level is not something of deep and abiding pride for its purity of principle or process. America is, even at that, one of mankind's GREATEST experiments in freeom....but we sure as hell ain't nothing to get pious about.
And that, Kad, is one of the underlying motivations for my personal criticisms of current politics and our social state.....we may be good...but we can be so much better without caving in to becoming just another hack state in the World Community.
We have and need to continue to stand for something GREAT and GOOD. Lately...that isn't happening...in my view.
If folks want to come and share in the dream we enjoy then get in line and do it the right way..and if WE are being too slow or too preferential in our "selection" of the immigration lottery winners....have your country petition our country...or campaign openly but legally to change it.
BTW... do you have any idea how many innocent Mexicans have died trying to cross our borders illegalY?? That they died at all is the fault of our country to cynically do nothing about sealing the border and insisting on a much safer way of entry. Instead...a HUGE part of AZ is NOW declared a no man's land.
NAFTA is one of the most egregious "agreements" in modern times...but as bad as it is....it is also not THE major factor in the US trade imbalance. The major factor in the trade imbalance is the fact that we no longer have anything to trade. A nation that imports more than it exports (FACT!!!!) has or is quickly destined to have a trade imbalance. Some of the history behind our decline as a producer is attributable to long standing bipartisan political ignorance and pandering to petty power groups. That and a crappy business environment has caused our productivity to off shore...and now our biggest product is financial disaster and flim flam paper schemes.
Sad.
I think Kad's point about illegal immigrants being good workers—those who are here to work—is correct.
On the other hand, I think the falling crime rate in Arizona is part of a larger sociological issue and the gross numbers fail to address things like kidnappings, which are growing in Arizona and are related to a certain Mexican sub-culture creeping north.
Regards — Cliff
Many, many illegals have taxes withdrawn from their checks. Most often, those taxes are pocketed by the employers.
The stereotype of illegal day laborers working for cash is not typical in these parts. Some illegals do work for cash, like in pizza shops, ect. Those "under the table" wages are usually low paying, so they would likely not end up actually paying taxes. If they did, they would likely earn a "refund." Boy, that would burn some asses, huh. Also, how many "real Americans" work under the table? Bitches about these types of workers is hypocrisy. Oh, and bullshit, too.
Often, in these parts, illegals get fake SSN and work for legit companies under the "wink, wink, nudge, nudge program." Their paystub looks like all the others. Not sure where the witholdings actually go. Word of mouth is that these employers keep two sets of books.
Illegals are here because businesses hire them. Stop being a sucka and fight the class war from your own side, folks!
I don't think there is a great deal of discussion about whether the folks who come here to work are good workers. In that regard, they are no different than the braceros I grew up with...the difference being their legal status. So..perhaps reenabling the "bracero" capability is part of the solution.
The remaining problem is trying to discern the bad guys from the good......and there are likely more good guys than bad...which makes the process much more difficult. Kind of like looking for that flake of pepper among the crystals of salt.
The tendancy is to toss the salt to maintain "purity" as it is too hard to do otherwise. Maybe...maybe not.
Certainly, in AZ there is not any difficulty of finding the bad guys.
South and west of Tucson....the chances are good that if you encounter them....they are bad......or..if you wait until nightfall....you can locate them in downtown Tucson. My last trip to DM was very, very revealing in that regard.
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