Other Opinion

October 7

OTHER OPINION: IMMIGRATION

Reform needed on federal level

LAST WEEK Alabama became the first of several states that have passed draconian anti-immigrant laws to successfully defend key provisions of its law in court.

U.S. District Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn found that parts of Alabama’s controversial law didn’t conflict with the federal government’s authority to regulate immigration. That means that, effective immediately, state and local police must arrest and detain anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally. Schools are required to determine the immigration status of students and provide it to district officials. And immigrants caught without proper identification can be charged with a crime.

Alabama’s law is cruel and unnecessary. But the state isn’t solely to blame for the legal mess. Nor is Blackburn, though her decision to allow police to enforce immigration laws contradicts those of other federal judges who blocked similar laws in Arizona and Georgia. The fact is that a significant portion of the fault lies with Washington.

Congress and the Obama administration have largely relegated immigration reform to a war of words, with each side blaming the other for the legislative inertia. As a result, states have been left to provide their own fixes by drafting what has become a national patchwork of regulations. That’s hardly the way to deal with the nation’s broken immigration system.

The only way to prevent states from enacting cruel and inhumane laws is for the federal government to provide a comprehensive solution.

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