What do you call it when the highest law enforcement official chooses to selectively enforce federal laws based on his criminal left-fascist ideology?
No, not Obamastan, but that's close.
From the The Daily Beast:
Obama Piles On Arizona
Arizona’s Latino and civil-rights leaders had long planned to gather Monday on the lawn of the Arizona capitol in Phoenix to protest Mitt Romney’s
closed-to-the-press fundraiser in nearby Scottsdale. The capitol
gathering had been promoted by the Obama campaign, which called Romney
an immigration extremist who sees Arizona’s immigration law, SB 1070, as a “model.”
The Obama administration
reacted swiftly, rescinding the 287(g) agreements with seven Arizona
police departments, which give the police permission to partner with the
federal government on immigration enforcement.
The administration also directed federal immigration officials not to
respond to local traffic stops or law-enforcement encounters in Arizona
unless the detained person is a recent border crosser, has already been
removed from the country and reentered the United States unlawfully, or
is a convicted criminal. (Federal immigration officials will still
respond to telephone calls from Arizona law-enforcement authorities
seeking the immigration status of a person who is legally stopped,
detained, or arrested.)
“As though we needed any more evidence, President Obama
has demonstrated anew his utter disregard for the safety and security
of the Arizona people,” Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said in a statement of
the administration’s decision to revoke 287(g) agreements. She later added on CNN: “The people of America ought to be outraged. This is absolutely an assault.”
President Obama, who has presided
over record deportations and net zero migration from Mexico, claimed
partial victory in the Supreme Court decision but warned against
potential civil-rights abuses. He said he would work for comprehensive
immigration reform. The Romney campaign, meanwhile, said in a short
statement that the president has failed to lead on immigration.
In
Phoenix after the court’s announcement, migrants sat near a Virgin of
Guadalupe painting on the capitol lawn, near flag-waving oldsters in
yellow “Viva la SB 1070” shirts, college students dressed in “Adios
Arpaio” shirts, elected immigration hardliners, Democrats who had
opposed the law, union representatives, and Latino leaders.
Arizona immigration hawks heralded the court’s decision as a victory, while local Democrats called for beefed-up voter registration and hinted at the dire effect of a possible Latino exodus on the tax base. Latino leaders expressed mixed emotions about the court’s ruling as they stood in the ovenlike sun, saying they thought enforcement of the law would cause civil-rights abuses but that they were thankful the court didn’t enact the other three provisions. Inside the capitol complex, Brewer, who signed the law in 2010, called the court’s decision a “victory” because “the heart of SB 1070 has been proven constitutional.”
“If
they think this is the heart, the law will soon need a heart
transplant,” said Randy Parraz, the Latino leader who was key in the
recall-election defeat of state Sen. Russell Pearce, the law’s sponsor.
Parraz said the law had an
unintended silver lining, galvanizing the Latino electorate into action.
And while Arizona has “SB 1070 fatigue,” he said, the Latino
electorate has “no fatigue for justice.” He predicted the downfall of
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and other hardliners in the 2012
election. (Arpaio, who has attracted nationwide attention for his raids
on Latino workplaces and neighborhoods, has said SB 1070 would not
affect how he does business. He arrests migrants for violating other
Arizona laws, such as the human smuggling law, which makes it a crime
for an immigrant to smuggle himself through Arizona, among other
things.)
Standing in the shade
of a skinny palm tree, state Rep. John Kavanagh, a former New Jersey
policeman who retired in Arizona and is one of the chief promoters of SB
1070, said it was “unfortunate” but “not fatal to the law” that the
court had struck down three provisions of SB 1070. (Those provisions
include criminalizing an undocumented immigrant for working in Arizona,
allowing cops to arrest a person without a warrant if they believe he or
she is an undocumented immigrant, and requiring immigrants to
“register” with the government.) Kavanagh said the heart of the law
still stood and would be implemented soon.
The high court was ruling Monday on an Obama administration lawsuit
seeking to overturn SB 1070, largely on grounds that the federal
government, not the states, has the constitutional responsibility to
enforce immigration.
While the
court’s decision allows Arizona police to check on the immigration
status of those they stop, detain, or arrest if there is reasonable
suspicion they are in the country illegally, Arizona can’t force the
federal government to deport anyone.
The Obama administration’s
Department of Homeland Security, led by former Arizona governor Janet
Napolitano, has the say over who gets deported. In that regard,
immigration enforcement still rests solidly in the hands of the federal
government. And the government has said it wants to focus on deporting
undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes that threaten the
nation.
“ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] will not issue
detainers unless they meet priorities,” a senior official at the
Department of Homeland Security told the Arizona Republic on Monday.
“I’m
upset,” said Alison Culver, a truck driver carrying a large American
flag at the Arizona Capitol, “because [the decision] allows illegals to
stay. They don’t have rights. Illegal is illegal, period.”
As Culver endured the Phoenix heat, Romney raised $2 million at his
Scottsdale fundraiser, his campaign said. The presumptive Republican
presidential nominee, who has vowed to “veto” the DREAM Act, said
unauthorized immigrants should self-deport and embraced the endorsement
of SB 1070’s author, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, has
struggled for the support of Latino voters. With Latinos voicing their approval
of Obama’s recent administrative order granting some young undocumented
immigrants renewable two-year permissions to stay and work in the
country, however, Romney has appeared to back away from his hardline
immigration stance. On Monday in Scottsdale, he told donors that he had
hoped the court would give states more enforcement power, according to the Associated Press.
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