Arizona’s border war

What's Arizona supposed to do?

The border it shares with Mexico leaks humanity, drugs, guns and all sorts of crime. And it's been that way since Apaches used it 140 years ago to evade the cavalry (both American and Mexican) to terrorize settlers and miners from Las Cruces to Tombstone.

At least back then President Chester Arthur sent the cavalry to vigorously chase the likes of Cochise, Geronimo, Victorio and Chatto. (They got their asses kicked most of the time. But they tried.)

Today, human traffickers and drug cartels use that same stretch of desert to work their evil and once again terrorize residents.

But this time the federal government moves slowly, and when it comes to securing the border, there's no cavalry in sight. Dithering politicians in Washington, D.C., complicate matters by sending mixed signals on how (or even whether) to enforce current immigration law.

In the meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Mexicans cross the Arizona border illegally each year. A significant number of illegal aliens live today in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and all major U.S. cities as a permanent shadow class, taxing schools, hospitals and public resources.

So Arizona did something. It passed a law that requires police who lawfully come in contact with people (say, a burglary or a traffic violation) to also check residency status if the officer has "reasonable suspicion" that the person may be in the country illegally.

Some fear the new directive will encourage officers to engage in racial profiling. It's a fear proponents of the new law discount, pointing out that the Arizona statute specifically tells police not to use racial profiling.

In addition, existing federal law already requires noncitizens to carry, on their person, documentation proving they are here legally -- a passport, green card, work visa, etc.

Just enforce the law, Arizona says.

But judging from the reaction from immigration activists, you'd think the Arizona Legislature had just passed a law that drags screaming children from mothers and gasses them. In fact, the night after the bill was signed, some creative protester smeared frijoles on the state Capitol in the symbol of a Nazi swastika.

Very creative, but stupidly inaccurate, not to mention a waste of good food. (Had they done this with a well-made mole sauce, the outrage would have been unbearable.)

Anyway, the point is that the far left in America want those who responsibly seek to deal with border security and illegal immigration to be seen as cartoon monsters, complete with horns, fangs and tails. I'll even go so far as to say that for some of these groups, if you don't endorse wholesale amnesty as the answer, you must be some kind of closet bigot.

That position is unhelpful in the extreme. The truth is illegal immigration is a growing and complex problem. It must be solved without infringing on American civil rights, of course. It is telling, however, that critics of the new law give police officers no credit -- zero -- in distinguishing between reasonable suspicion and racial profiling.

Also, let's not talk about "illegals" as if they were sacks of flour. They are human beings and as such deserve the dignity fitting our American heritage. Most Latinos who sneak in to the United States do so only to work and make a better life. To do that, they often subject themselves to great trials, not the least of which are "coyotes," Mexican scum who profit in the trafficking of human beings, often engaging in kidnapping, extortion and slavery.

Nevertheless, this growing population lives in our country ... illegally.

Let's say that again and let it sink in ... illegally.

President Barack Obama scolds Arizona for taking matters into its own hands. But it is his federal government that declines to enforce existing federal laws, and it is he, as our commander in chief, who fails to secure the border.

It is plain this president ain't sending the cavalry. So, let me ask again: What's Arizona supposed to do?

Sherman Frederick (sfrederick@ reviewjournal.com) is publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and president of Stephens Media.