Guest Editorials
BY RUSSELL PEIRCE | AUGUST 18, 2010
SB 1070: A victory for Arizona and America
Judge Susan Bolton has given her Judicial Stamp of Approval on illegal aliens and their well-funded anarchist and anti-American advocates. However, you may be thinking Judge Bolton’s ruling was a defeat for Arizona and our fight against illegal immigration. I want you to know, despite the temporary setback with parts of SB 1070 and her attempt to support the Obama administration’s policy of Non-Enforcement, actually as the author of SB1070 the ruling is a victory.
As of July 29, State officials are required to report illegal aliens. The handcuffs come off from law enforcement. No more Sanctuary/Catch and Release policies and penalties for hiring illegal day laborers and your vehicle will be impounded. Officers can and will enforce all immigration laws: no more political handcuffs that restrict them in any way, or we will sue. “We the People” are in charge of government, not the other way around. Day laborers will be arrested, and also those picking them up and their vehicles will be impounded. It is a crime to transport, harbor, aid and abet illegal aliens.
Arizona has been the leader in the fight to secure our borders and enforce our laws.
2004: Proposition 200
2006: Proposition 100, Proposition 102, Proposition 103 and Proposition 300
2007: Arizona’s Legal Workers Act
Arizona has been put in the center of this fight, with illegal aliens marching down our streets with demands, vulgar signs, foreign flags and with Home Depot’s parade of illegals soliciting work as day laborers!
However, today brings light to the most important issues, the center of every anti-illegal immigration rally: WE DEMAND ENFORCEMENT OF OUR LAWS!
SB 1070 is already working. CNN reported that even though SB 1070 now heads for higher courts … some of the estimated 500,000 illegal aliens who broke into Arizona are leaving the state.
Judge Bolton’s temporary injunction against parts of the law is a minor setback, but Arizona will fight this in court until we prevail, just as we did when a judge issued an injunction against Proposition 200.
The citizens of the United States are standing with Arizona. According to a July 19 Quinnipiac University poll, Americans oppose the Justice Department’s lawsuit against SB 1070 by a margin of over 2-1.
They know that illegal, well … is illegal. Barack Obama does not.
The basis of the Justice Department’s complaint is not that SB 1070 interferes with federal immigration law, but rather that it interferes with the Obama administration’s “non enforcement policies as he moves toward Amnesty.”
This means they only will go after illegal aliens who are also “engaged in or suspected of terrorism or espionage; aliens convicted of crimes, with a particular emphasis on violent criminals, felons, and repeat offenders; certain gang members; aliens subject to outstanding criminal warrants; and fugitive aliens, especially those with criminal records.” In other words, another crime and another victim before any enforcement.
Mexican drug wars are flooding across the border into Arizona with home invasions and kidnappings becoming commonplace. Phoenix is the kidnapping capital of America. Fifteen police officers have been shot or maimed by illegal aliens in Phoenix alone. During the debate over 1070, my friend and 5th Generation Arizona rancher Rob Krentz was murdered by illegal alien drug dealers. Days after the law passed, a police officer was shot by other illegal alien drug smugglers.
Illegal immigration also strains the economy of Arizona. The non-partisan Federation for American Immigration Reform recently released a study that found illegal aliens cost Arizona taxpayers $2.6 billion a year. Before Arizona passed the Legal Arizona Workers Act to keep employers from hiring illegal aliens, 9.8 percent of our workforce was illegal.
Arizona’s stand against illegal immigration is not about just States’ Rights, it’s about a state’s responsibility to its citizens.
When I assumed office, I put my hand on the bible and solemnly swore to “support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the State of Arizona, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and defend them against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
SB 1070 is the law of the State of Arizona and actually of this federal Republic.
Article IV Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution states: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion.” The flood of illegal aliens, as high as 10,000 each day – many of whom are terrorists, violent drug dealers, and gang members – is nothing short of an invasion. I swore to protect the Constitution as the founders intended it, not the political agenda of a left wing activist judge.
Arizona asks for help, but instead we were sued. By siding with lawbreakers and undermining the Democratic will of the American people, I’m tempted to call Obama and his lackeys’ domestic enemies. At the very least, he is more concerned about what America’s enemies think about SB 1070 than the American people. Obama’s Deputy Secretary of State issued an affidavit against SB 1070. Among his justifications was Venezuela’s outrageous accusation that the law “could lead to the legitimization of racist attitudes and the latent risk of violence.”
That’s right; Obama’s State Department is using slander by anti-American Marxist Dictators like Hugo Chavez as an excuse to overturn the democratic process in Arizona! I do not take my oath of office lightly. It is my duty as a public servant and an American citizen to ensure that SB 1070 is enacted and enforced. The people of Arizona will not rest until this happens.