Sunday, December 05, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

EDITORIAL: A bad joke in Arizona

Looking for a way to crack down on a wave of illegal immigration that has swamped and nearly bankrupted many of their public hospitals and schools, Arizonans on Nov. 2 approved Proposition 200 by a landslide margin of 56-43 percent -- with majority support from Hispanic voters.

Proposition 200 requires proof of immigration status when obtaining government services and proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Government workers who don't report illegal immigrants who try to get benefits could themselves face jail time and a fine.

The measure was supposed to take effect Dec. 1, but U.S. District Judge David C. Bury in Tucson has now temporarily barred the state from implementing the ballot initiative while the court considers a challenge to its constitutionality.

The lawsuit in question argues that the law will jeopardize the "health and well-being" of families who "depend" on public benefits, including schools. "We believe that this is a promising start to ensure that the proposition doesn't become law," crowed Ann Marie Tallman, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs, including several illegal aliens.

Ms. Tallman's accomplices also argue that Proposition 200 is unconstitutional because it usurps the federal government's power over immigration and naturalization.

That's hilarious.

A real 10th Amendment, "states' rights" position on the issue might be that state and local employees have a right to hand out benefits to illegal immigrants, thus becoming accessories after the fact to violations of federal immigration law, because of state sovereignty.

For the record, such a position would be wrong -- the Constitution clearly places immigration matters squarely in the hands of the central government.

But that's the opposite of what Arizona voters did, anyway. They required that state and local officials obey the federal law by turning in suspected illegal aliens to federal authorities for arrest and prosecution -- going so far as to warn they would jail these accomplices in the crime of stealing tax money, if necessary.

The referendum enacted by a whopping majority of Arizonans would thus warm the hearts of Abraham Lincoln and William Tecumseh Sherman, with their strong feelings about federal supremacy. Yet the federal courts now honor a lawsuit that claims Arizonans violate and usurp the federal authority, by ordering their state and local officials to obey and enforce the federal law?

Who's writing this stuff, Lewis Carroll?