What We Expected: Another Wrong Ruling

Gee. What a shock. A Fed judge calls it wrong.

Judge Susan R. Bolton, a Clinton appointee who sits in Phoenix, said requiring police to check the immigration status of those they arrest or whom they stop and suspect are in the country illegally would overwhelm the federal government's ability to respond, and could mean legal immigrants are wrongly arrested.

That's the Feds' problem. For 30 years, Presidents have not bothered with border security; they've wasted pissed away tax revenues in other places.

And gee, what a shock: a Fed judge affirms Fed asininity.

Jacobson:

...states already routinely run searches for a variety of statuses, including outstanding warrants, child support orders, and non-immigration identity checks. Each of these checks potentially could delay release of an innocent person or burden some federal agency.

The Judge's reasoning, particularly that the status check provision violated the 4th Amendment even as to persons already under arrest, applies just as easily to these other status checks.

As it stands this afternoon, it is perfectly rational for someone faced with the choice of obeying the immigration laws or not, to choose not to do so. The choice of lawlessness makes a lot more sense than spending years winding through the byzantine legal immigration system, because the end result will be the same but lawlessness gets you here more quickly.

When the law and the federal government reward lawlessness, something is very wrong.

In the long run, "legal lawlessness" promoted by Government leads to worse problems. Jacobson mentioned anarchy, but vigilantism is also in the realm of possibility.