Del. McDonough: Arizona’s Admirable Immigration Law – The Statute Mimics Federal Law and Should Be a National Model

From Delegate Pat McDonough:

The myths, misinformation and misleading rhetoric directed at Arizona’s new immigration law are overwhelming. The Arizona law is nothing more than a duplication of portions of the existing federal Immigration Act, which has been in power for many years. However, that power has not been executed by numerous presidents, both Democrat and Republican. As a result, the states have had to enact their own legislation in order to protect citizens from the burdens created by illegal aliens.

The federal Immigration Act has been challenged numerous times and found to be constitutionally sound. The constitutional scholar residing in the White House should know that if the federal version has passed muster, then certainly its replica in Arizona will receive the same judicial response. Clearly, the Obama administration’s frivolous lawsuit is a political witch hunt.

U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder, who promptly demonized the Arizona law before he even read it, does not include a complaint regarding the racial profiling allegations. Mr. Holder knows the Arizona law contains firm language protecting human rights, which even surpasses its federal counterpart’s clause. (The application of the Immigration Act has produced a minuscule number of complaints by alleged victims of racial profiling.)

The centerpiece of the government’s lawsuit is the contention that Arizona has violated the “preemption and supremacy sections of the Constitution.” However, in ruling after ruling, federal courts have asserted that as long as state laws do not conflict with or undermine federal laws, the “supremacy and preemption” sections are not a consideration.

More than 400 laws and resolutions have been passed at the state level related to illegal immigration issues, according to an immigration attorney. These state policies have withstood a multitude of court challenges by the ACLU and other illegal-alien advocates. Most importantly, five previous anti-illegal-alien laws in Arizona have been challenged unsuccessfully. President Barack Obama is standing on quicksand as a legal foundation in his taxpayer-funded litigation adventure.

It is ironic and indeed hypocritical that a state like Maryland, which brazenly violates the Federal Immigration Act by aiding and abetting illegals, is not challenged by President Obama. As one of America’s leading “sanctuary states,” Maryland has provided taxpayers’ money to fund day labor centers, drivers’ licenses services, education money, health care and the establishment of a multicultural mansion for CASA de Maryland.

CASA de Maryland is a powerful advocate for illegal aliens in Maryland, receiving funding from taxpayers and even Hugo Chavez, the anti-American dictator who rules Venezuela. As a result of the open-border welcoming policies of Gov. Martin O’Malley and General Assembly leaders, the state is now burdened with 350,000 illegals (according to the Pew Hispanic Center), costing taxpayers $1.6 billion, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform. The Immigration Act firmly states: “it is unlawful to aid and abet, directly or indirectly, illegal aliens.” Certainly, some of Maryland’s politicians deserve the same wrath and demonization that is now unfairly being directed at Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer.

The supporters of illegal aliens have always used personal attacks and misinformation as weapons against those of us who respect “the rule of law” and the value of American citizenship. They obscure the debate by characterizing “illegals” as “immigrants” and bash public officials by mislabeling them “as anti-immigrant.”

The consequences facing the average American citizen by permitting 12 million or more unlawful residents to enter our nation are profound. In Maryland, 80 percent of the drugs used to conduct chemical warfare in our neighborhoods come across the open Mexican border. $32 billion in cash transfers from the pockets of illegals leave America, some of which helps finance Mexico’s corrupt drug cartels. In African-American communities, unskilled young people are suffering from a 65 percent unemployment rate, while young men from Mexico dominate the unskilled work force. Yes, the damaging results of the failure of leaders in our nation and state to respect the rule of law and enforce it in an effective way have produced grievous harm to America’s citizens.

The foundation of the American dream is our citizenship. The centerpiece of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is to guarantee our liberty by written law. The reality of liberty is manifested in the gift of citizenship. The issue of illegal immigration is a direct attack on the value and purpose of our citizenship, which is why so many Americans feel passionately about the Arizona law.

Pat McDonough, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing Baltimore and Harford counties, intends to introduce an Arizona-type anti-illegal-immigration law in the 2011 session of the Maryland General Assembly. His e-mail is pat.mcdonough@house.state.md.us.