OPINION:
With Monday’s ruling overturning the bulk of Arizona’s immigration enforcement law, the Supreme Court has once again became part of the problem and not the solution (“Restraining Arizona, unleashing Obama,” Commentary, Thursday).
While immigration policy is a federal issue, the Supreme Court should have taken note that under both Republican and Democratic administrations, federal enforcement of federal immigration laws has been, at best, marginal and for the most part, a dismal failure. The impact of federal inaction is felt at the state and local levels without relief or recourse from the very government that foments the problem.
The conduct of the Obama administration has been to favor illegal aliens over law-abiding American citizens and not protecting American communities from criminal illegals who must now be released into local communities instead of being deported once they’ve completed their prison or jail sentences.
The court could have used its broad judicial powers to force the Obama administration to provide a remediation plan for those enforcement elements of the Arizona law it viewed as the sole jurisdiction of the federal government. Furthermore, the justices could have ordered the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take into custody all suspected illegals identified by law enforcement for proper identification and processing through the federal court system, or else risk being held in contempt of a court order.
The Supreme Court has fashioned these types of remedies for other federal enforcement issues like court-ordered school-busing programs. Instead, the court has rendered states impotent with regard to arresting illegal aliens, facilitated the continuation of illegal immigration and saddled local and state governments with the associated costs of social services, education and crime prevention. This is shameful conduct.
ALAN J. QUARTARARO
Virginia Beach, Va.
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