The U.S. Supreme Court was unanimously right in harshly judging what passes for immigration enforcement in America as the justices rendered a split verdict on Arizona’s aggressive attempt to repel illegal entrants from Mexico.
Writing for the majority, Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy noted that the state “bears many of the consequences of unlawful immigration.” Kennedy added that in its “most populous county, these aliens are reported to be responsible for a disproportionate share of serious crime.”
Most damningly, he pointed out: “Phoenix is a major city of the United States, yet signs along an interstate highway 30 miles to the south warn the public to stay away. One read, ‘DANGER — PUBLIC WARNING — TRAVEL NOT RECOMMENDED/ Active Drug and Human Smuggling Areas/ Visitors May Encounter Armed Criminals and Smuggling Vehicles Traveling at High Rates of Speed.’ ”
Leading the court’s opposing, minority bloc, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia added: “Arizona bears the brunt of the country’s illegal immigration problem . Its citizens feel themselves under siege by large numbers of illegal immigrants who invade their property, strain their social services and even place their lives in jeopardy.”
Under those circumstances, it’s no wonder that the Arizona Legislature and governor tried to take the law into their own hands, with statutes declaring presence in the state without documents and taking a job without documents to be misdemeanors.
It’s also no wonder that Arizona enacted an additional provision authorizing police to check the immigration status of anyone who was reasonably suspected of being in the country illegally.
Properly, the majority struck down the move to charge illegal immigrants with misdemeanors for living or working there. Such criminalization went far beyond U.S. policy , thereby impermissibly intruding into an exclusive province of the federal government.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/supreme-court-ruling-arizona-immigration-law-underscores-profoundly-broken-federal-policy-article-1.1102169#ixzz1yvYco8q0
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