Feds’ SB1070 Suit is Vital for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

By Michael Bryan

I was asked by The Hill to do a 500-word blogger face-off on the question, "Is the DOJ suit against Arizona wise, and will it help or hurt Obama's push for comprehensive immigration reform?" Frankly, at 856 words my opponent went way over his limit, but still failed to make any sort of coherent argument. Here's my argument:

"The federal lawsuit to enjoin enforcement of
SB1070 is absolutely essential to any hope of comprehensive immigration
reform. Congress cannot address America's immigration problems unless
it remains in control of America's immigration policy. If SB1070 is
allowed to stand, Arizona (quickly followed by the other states) will
effectively wrest control of America's immigration policy from the
federal government. The resulting chaos would be a disaster for America
and end any hope of fixing our broken immigration system. For a full
analysis of the federal lawsuit against SB1070, see BlogForArizona.com (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4).

If unchecked, the passionate and misguided rush of many states, led
by Arizona, to legislate their own preferred solutions to our national
immigration problems will quickly lead to the creation of 50 different
immigration policies, all conflicting with and undermining any effort to
reform national policy. Bringing suit to prevent Arizona from creating
its own immigration policy is therefore necessary to keep Congress in
the driver’s seat. Without Congress behind the wheel (no matter how
tardy or misguided you think their navigation), America’s immigration
policy would lack any consistent direction as the states all scramble to
seize the wheel.

Arizona’s SB1070 promotes a single-minded focus on what it terms
“attrition through enforcement,” and discounts all other facets of
immigration policy. Its solitary goal is to identify and detain as many
undocumented aliens as possible in the hope of deporting them and of
discouraging others from attempting to immigrate. Despite its allure to
anti-immigrant demagogues, this hard-line immigration policy is not, and
should not be, America’s immigration policy. Our nation’s policy must
take into account a complex mixture of many, often-competing, goals;
international relations, national security, trade considerations, labor
policy, humanitarian responsibilities, and constitutional constraints
are all essential considerations in immigration reform. 

It is easy and attractive to blame lax enforcement for America’s
current immigration problems; if our “leaky border” were the sole cause
of these problems, then they could be easily remedied by sealing the
border and rounding up the “invaders.” Sadly, complex phenomena are
seldom amenable to simple solutions. In fact, brutal fixes such as
Arizona’s SB1070 invariably create more problems than they solve. Any
remedy to our admittedly inadequate current policy requires careful
consideration and a national perspective. Like it or not, only Congress
has the legitimacy, institutional capacity, and constitutional authority
to strike a balance between the competing claims of 50 state
legislatures and the diverse goals of immigration policy.

Critics who denigrate Obama’s efforts to retain federal control of
immigration need to explain their intransigence in cooperating on
comprehensive immigration reform. Demanding the establishment of a
“secure border” before any negotiations toward a new national policy can
proceed is merely an excuse for obstructing any progress whatsoever. 

The states cannot fix immigration on their own. That way lies chaos.
Obama is wise to stop Arizona’s folly before it can spread to other
states."