Obama Threatens Arizona with Justice Department Investigation

[Travis]

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-37621-Public-Safety-Examiner~y2010m4d23-Obama-threatens-Arizona-with-Justice-Department-investigation



Obama threatens Arizona with Justice Department investigation

April 23, 4:25 PM[image: http://image.examiner.com/img/greydot.gif]Public
Safety Examiner <http://www.examiner.com/x-37621-Public-Safety-Examiner>[image:
http://image.examiner.com/img/greydot.gif]Jim Kouri

On Friday, President Barack Obama revealed his disdain for a new law in
Arizona that would require police in the state that borders Mexico to
determine if people are in the United States illegally.



The law, signed by Governor Jan Brewer, requires state and local police to
determine the status of people if there is "reasonable suspicion" that they
are illegal immigrants and to arrest people who are unable to provide
documents proving they are in the country legally.

"If we continue to fail to act at a federal level, we will continue to see
misguided efforts opening up around the country," Obama said.

Obama also said that the Justice Department will monitor enforcement of this
new law, a statement many believe is a threat aimed at Arizona cops.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs later said if the Arizona measure became
law in that state, Obama has asked that the Justice Department look into any
civil rights implications.

While the pleas from American citizens in Arizona and other states fell on
deaf ears in Washington, DC, the violence and crime at the U.S.-Mexico
border continued unabated.

In yet another example of violence spreading north of the border, a deadly
Mexican gang is actively plotting to kill U.S. law enforcement officers and
their families in Texas, according to a Department of Homeland Security
alert that warns U.S. cops to wear body armor and vary routes to avoid being
tracked.

The  U.S. government has spent billions of dollars to fight Mexican drug
cartels yet they continue to be the nation’s largest supplier of illicit
narcotics and violent Mexican gangs have expanded into every region of the
country, including idyllic rural areas.

"This is hardly earth-shattering news since Mexico has long represented the
single greatest drug trafficking threat to the U.S., despite Uncle Sam's
multi billion-dollar effort to halt the northbound flow of narcotics. The
costly investment has failed miserably, according to a federal report that
reveals Mexican heroin production has actually doubled in the last year,"
state officials from the public-interest group Judicial Watch.

In the absence of federal enforcement a Mexican border state -- Arizona
-- drowning in an illegal immigration pandemic has passed legislation that
bans “sanctuary city” policies and makes it a state crime to be in the U.S.
without proper documentation.

The law marks an unprecedented effort by an American state to take
immigration matters into its own hands since immigration offenses are
currently violations of federal law that cannot be enforced by local police.
But lawmakers in Arizona are fed up with the enormous toll that illegal
aliens are having on their state as the feds sit idly by and fail to secure
the southern border, according to a Judicial Watch report obtained by the
National Association of Chiefs of Police.

In the past few years they’ve chipped away at the crisis with other
measures, though this is by far the most hard-hitting and definitely among
the country’s toughest immigration enforcement laws. The measure, passed
this week by the Arizona House and previously approved by the Senate, grants
police the power to stop and verify the immigration status of anyone
suspected of being illegal and requires foreign nationals to carry proof of
legal residency. This includes the man known as "America's sheriff" Joe
Arpaio of Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix.

Sheriff Arpaio has been targeted by the Obama Justice Department and
Democrats in his own state because of his tough immigration enforcement
policy.

Illegal aliens will be charged in state court with trespassing and anyone --
documented or undocumented --seeking work from a road or sidewalk will also
be criminally prosecuted. Drivers who pick up illegal alien day laborers
will also be punished when the law kicks in.

Predictably, immigration advocates are incensed and have called on Arizona
Governor Jan Brewer to veto the measure which they assert is racist. The
legal director of an influential national group La Raza that represents day
laborers calls it an "unconstitutional, unwise and odious bill"  created by
“demagogue leaders” who have become folk heroes for “white supremacists”
throughout the country.

Arizona lawmakers have long searched for ways to curb the colossal impact
that illegal immigration has had on their state. A few years ago they
enacted a law that punishes businesses that hire illegal immigrants, though
the state has not penalized a single employer. Legislators allocated the
sufficient funds (about $5 million) to enforce the law but a chunk of the
money remains largely unspent by counties throughout the state, according to
the JW report.

*Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National
Association of Chiefs of Police and he's a columnist for The Examiner (
examiner.com) and New Media Alliance (thenma.org).  In addition, he's a
blogger for the Cheyenne, Wyoming Fox News Radio affiliate KGAB (
www.kgab.com). Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden
Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty.

He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights
nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In
addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university
and director of security for several major organizations.  He's also served
on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers
throughout the country.   Kouri writes for many police and security
magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and
others. He's a news writer and columnist for AmericanDaily.Com,
MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he's syndicated by AXcessNews.Com.
Kouri appears regularly as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news
and talk shows including Fox News Channel, Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN
Headline News, MTV, etc.  *

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