U.S. Sues Arizona; Prop. 187 Redux

07 July 2010 |permalink | email article

The Justice Department filed suite Tuesday against Arizona, charging that the state’s new immigration law is unconstitutional, and requesting a preliminary injunction to stop the legislation from taking effect July 31. Predictably, Republican Sen. John McCain, seeking reelection, oddly opined that “it is too early to challenge the law.”

Illegal immigration remains a serious national issue, as it did 16 years ago in California, before Arizona passed a state law requiring local police to check the immigration status of anyone they stop for traffic violation or any kind of violation if they suspect the person is an illegal immigrant.

Legislators there are considering yet another tough measure – denying birth certificates to children born to illegal immigrants in the state. A Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely Arizona voters found that 64 percent agree that children born to illegal immigrants should not automatically become U.S. citizens, while 26 percent disagree and say these children should become citizens.

It’s no surprise that 71 percent of Republicans and 58 percent of those not affiliated with either major party – backed by the Tea Partiers and the Rand Paul crowd who “want to take back our country” – grasp another opportunity to punish the young and invincibly innocent.

Nationally, 58 percent of voters reject the notion that a child born to illegal immigrants should not automatically become a citizen. But 33 percent disagree and say that if a woman enters the country illegally and gives birth here, that child should automatically be a U.S. citizen. That’s current law, and many believe it would require a constitutional amendment to change it.

The current legal firestorm echoes a California ballot measure in 1994 which became a key issue in the reelection campaign of Republican Gov. Pete Wilson. Fifty-five percent of California voters passed Proposition 187, which outlawed education, health care and social services for illegal immigrants and their children.

Wilson, a major sponsor of that measure and long anathema to Latinos and many Democrats, is chairman of Republican nominee Meg Whitman’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign. Proposition 187 was declared unconstitutional in federal court and was never enforced.

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