These California politicians apparently don’t know the law in their own state.

Here are excerpts from the California Penal Code Section 834B (emphasis added to highlight consistency with the new Arizona law).

With respect to any such person who is arrested, and suspected
of being present in the United States in violation of federal
immigration laws, every law enforcement agency shall do the
following:

(1) Attempt to verify the legal status of such person as a citizen
of the United States, an alien lawfully admitted as a permanent
resident, an alien lawfully admitted for a temporary period of time
or as an alien who is present in the United States in violation of
immigration laws.  The verification process may include, but shall not
be limited to, questioning the person regarding his or her date and
place of birth, and entry into the United States, and demanding
documentation to indicate his or her legal status.

(2) Notify the person of his or her apparent status as an alien
who is present in the United States in violation of federal
immigration laws and inform him or her that, apart from any criminal
justice proceedings, he or she must either obtain legal status or
leave the United States.

(3) Notify the Attorney General of California and the United
States Immigration and Naturalization Service of the apparent illegal
status and provide any additional information that may be requested
by any other public entity.

This law has been in effect in California for decades.

Conclusion:

There is nothing new or radical about local police enforcing federal law,  or state laws that are mirrors of federal law as is the case in Arizona.   What is new is the Democratic party’s strategy of deliberate non-enforcement of of the Southern border because they believe that policy will cause American citizens of Latino descent to vote against Republicans.

The legal brief discloses some facts about sloppy practices in the government’s immigration “system” that most Americans do not know, but would be outraged if they did.

Foreigners who are in the country legally are required to register with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and are issued one of several forms of identification.  Federal law requires them to carry the I.D. with them at all times and to show it when asked by any law enforcement officer.

The legal brief filed by the Justice Department objects to the Arizona law provision that empowers local police to ask for ID cards issued to legal aliens by the government.  It says:

However, there are several circumstances in which an alien would not be provided with evidence of registration notwithstanding the federal government’s knowledge of the alien’s presence.  Federal law provides a variety of humanitarian options for aliens – including unlawfully present aliens – who have been victimized or fear persecution or violence, including but not limited to asylum, special visas for victims of trafficking, and special visas for victims of violent crime.  In order to qualify for such programs an alien needs to apply and satisfy the criteria that the program at issue requires.  During the pendency of the application process, an alien may not have evidence of registration even though the federal government is aware of the alien’s presence, has decided against removing the alien, and certainly has no interest in prosecuting the alien for a crime.

These humanitarian programs demonstrate that one aspect of federal immigration policy is to assist and welcome such victims in the United States, notwithstanding possible temporary unlawful presence.  It would therefore violate federal policy to prosecute or detain these types of aliens on the basis of their immigration status – which is often known to the federal government and, for affirmative policy reasons, not used as the basis for a removal proceeding or criminal prosecution.

Not mentioned here are other “humanitarian options” that tens of thousands of aliens apply for, including simple family connections.

Here the government admits that it deliberately allows many thousands – probably  hundreds of thousands – of illegals to stay here pending application for official permission to live here under one of several exceptions to the law.   Thus, there is a category of illegals that aren’t really illegal…but not legal either.

As the government’s own lawyers admit in this brief, it does not grant these people any officially legal status while they await adjudication of their applications, a process that often takes several years.  They are not given a visa or any identification.  But, they aren’t deported either.  They just dwell here, in limbo.

This raises obvious questions: Why can’t the government create an ID card, with an expiration date, and issue it to such people?  Why is the system so “lose?” Don’t expect any reasonable or logical answers from the Obama Administration.

Of the estimated 12 – 15 million illegals, how many have this status, both legal and illegal at the same time?  The most likely answer is that nobody knows because the bureaucracy is too dysfunctional to keep track

The long threatened suit was finally filed in federal court today by the Department of Justice.

For weeks President Obama and several Administration officials, have hysterically charged that the Arizona law would facilitate or require or permit racial profiling.  Yet profiling is not the grounds for this suit.  Much of the 25 page legal brief is an attempt to sell the court on the notion that federal immigration enforcement is a complex, delicately balanced ballet.  Here’s an example:

The nation’s immigration laws reflect a careful and considered balance of national law enforcement, foreign relations, and humanitarian interests…Because immigration control and management is a field where flexibility and the adaptation of the congressional policy to infinitely variable conditions constitute the essence of the program, Congress vested substantial discretion in the President and the administering federal agencies to adjust the balance of these multiple interests as appropriate – both globally and in individual cases.

According to the suit the state of Arizona would, by identifying illegals and turning them over to federal authorities for deportation, upset a balance “actually established by the federal government” between the various, competing goals.  Anyone who has interacted the U.S.  Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, under the direction of the Department of Homeland Security(DHS),  knows it to be one of the most chaotic, dysfunctional bureaucracies in the world.  The notion that somewhere high level officials consider and “carefully balance” immigration policy is simply absurd.

The Legislators of Arizona passed their new law because the state is suffering a wave of violent crime committed by illegal aliens.  This suit says, in essence, that a vital component of the Obama Administration’s fragile “balance” is weak border enforcement and allowing hundreds of thousands of illegals to continue to live in Arizona.  If Arizona identifies illegals and turns them over to DHS for deportation there will be a lack of “balance.”

This is a weak case and the government is very likely to lose.  However there won’t be a court decision until after the election.  It seems obvious that the purpose of this suit  is to persuade Obama’s hard Left base that he “cares.”

1. Republican Senate leaders met privately with President Obama to discuss border security and immigration issues.  After the meeting Republican Senator Brownback told reporters that the President was “not embracing” Republican calls for securing the border before Congress takes up so-called “comprehensive immigration reform.”
2. Obama announced plans to deploy “up to” 1,200 National Guard troops in Arizona and add $500 Million to the border enforcement budget.

It turns out that number 2 was a cheap stunt to head off efforts by Senate Republicans to add border security amendments to a defense funding bill.

Obama’s real border policy was revealed quite clearly during his joint press appearance on the White House lawn last week with Mexican President Calderon. About four minutes into his speech President Obama said:

For the sake of our shared prosperity and security, we discussed the need for immigration that is orderly and safe…To fix our broken immigration system, I reaffirmed my deep commitment to working with Congress in a bipartisan way to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

The immigration bureaucracy is indeed dysfunctional and frustrating to foreigners who wish to live here.  However, that is not the most urgent problem.  The border security system is also broken and it’s causing a crime wave throughout the South West, especially in Arizona.

The political-media establishment, is determined to prevent discussion or debate about border security as a stand-alone issue.  They conflate border enforcement with immigration.  So-called “comprehensive immigration reform” is code for amnesty for Illegal aliens, those who have crossed the border without permission.  They are now called “undocumented workers” or simply, “immigrants.”  The establishment seeks to blur the distinction between those who enter illegally and those who enter the with permission, after meeting criteria and standards set forth in immigration law.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform treats border security is a work in progress, an ambiguous intention for the future, while amnesty is granted immediately.

But the American people increasingly resist this immigration flimflam.  The People find illegal border crossing unendurable.   The people see border security as a need to be addressed immediately, and by itself, NOT as a subordinate piece of  so-called “comprehensive immigration reform.”

Obama Continued his speech:

…comprehensive reform means accountability for everybody: government that is accountable for securing the border…

The federal government is already accountable for securing the border. That responsibility is mandated in Article 4 Section 4 of the Constitution.  No “reform” is needed.  By failing to secure the border the Obama Administration stands in violation of the Constitution.

…people who break the law by breaching our borders being held accountable by paying taxes and a penalty and getting right with the law before they can earn their citizenship.

“Before they can earn their citizenship?”   Here Obama reveals the real goal of the Left: that the 12 million illegals who  are already here not only be allowed to stay, but that they become citizens.  So they can vote.  Democrat.

He tried to sound stern and demanding, but be assured any legislation that passes Congress will be designed to facilitate, not impede an illegal alien’s progress through easy hoops toward full citizenship.

As the President said, the immigration system is broken.  As a result, millions of people from all over the world who have applied through legal channels for a chance to live in the U.S. are in a bureaucratic limbo.  Most of them would leap at the chance to become a citizen by paying a fee.  They wait years for a response to their applications, not for citizenship, just for permission to live here.  Most are never approved.  But Obama and the Democrats would allow some 12 million people who, in Obama’s own words, broke our law “by breaching our borders” to stay here permanently, pay fines and “earn their citizenship.”

Some of the people who come here illegally from Mexico want to stay here.  They do what most Americans believe should be required of anyone who wants to be an citizen, they assimilate.  They learn English and adapt to American culture.  They don’t demand that America become more like Mexico.  I have known many such people and am sympathetic to them.  In the past I would have supported efforts to help them stay here and become citizens.  But with great reluctance I have changed my position.

America does need immigration reform, at the end of a thorough national discussion or debate over what the goals of immigration policy should be.  If one of the goals turns out to be giving a relatively large number of people from Mexico an opportunity to live and work here then appropriate visa programs should be created to facilitate that goal.  But an official policy that makes illegal border crossing an expedited application for citizenship is intolerable and sabotages legitimate immigration policy.

Closing the border to illegal entry is NOT a subordinate piece of immigration reform.

A secure border is a fundamental necessity to maintain America as a sovereign nation in control of it’s own destiny.  A secure border is a necessity to minimize the number of foreign terrorists criminals who can attack our people.  A secure border is a pre-condition to a debate over immigration policy which, after all, is about allowing some people to come in while keeping other people out.