Posted on 04/23/2012 10:53:42 AM PDT by SandRat
Although some are tired of hearing about Arizona’s border problems, others are not.
That’s how Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever sees the issue, which not only impacts Arizona but also far beyond the state.
The federal government’s attack on Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070 is just an example of those in Washington, D.C., who are unaware of the enormous problem illegal immigrants and drug cartels are causing throughout the nation, Dever said.
Speaking to more than 40 people Thursday night at the monthly dinner meeting of the Coronado Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America, the sheriff said the federal government is also trying to collapse Alabama’s more stringent immigration law.
“The feds are more interested in hampering the states than doing their jobs in securing the border,” Dever said.
Not long ago, individuals from another southern state — North Carolina — came to Cochise County to obtain firsthand knowledge of what living along the border with Mexico is like, the sheriff said.
It wasn’t a fast in-and-out tour, but rather people from North Carolina lived with border residents to experience the lifestyle the federal government’s inaction has forced on Arizonans, Dever said.
The North Carolina group put together a 30-minute documentary — of which he played about six minutes — showing how easy it was to cross from Mexico into Cochise County, with some of the people going over low fences — a little more than adult waist high — into Mexico and easily coming back into the United States.
The visitors from North Carolina get it and those in Alabama get it, as do other states, Dever said.
The question is why doesn’t the federal government get it, he asked.
Alabama is under administrative threat from the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, Dever said.
The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice has threatened law enforcement officials in Alabama with lawsuits, the sheriff said.
In the federal government’s view, Alabama is entering into law enforcement duties which is not the purview of the state — a similar view against Arizona’s SB 1070 — and if Alabama engages in identifying and incarcerating illegal immigrants they are violating the U.S Constitution, Dever said.
It’s the same obtuse legal arguments the federal government has made against Arizona, he said.
The only difference is SB 1070 has made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where on Wednesday, Dever will hear the arguments, pro and con, on the issue as part of the nine justices’ decision-making process.
Dever’s expenses to witness the oral arguments are being paid for by the Legacy Foundation, a Phoenix organization which raised money to help the sheriff and others fight the federal government on the immigration issue.
“The foundation raised $1 million,” Dever said.
While he will not be able to make any verbal comments to the court, the ultimate federal arbitrators have written arguments from him and others as to why Arizona’s law should stand.
Although Dever cannot speak to the high court members on Wednesday, he will be talking to the press after the arguments are finished.
Usually, except in some circumstances, verbal arguments are limited to one hour, but during that time Dever told the Herald/Review he will be watching the faces of each justice and listening to their questions to see if expressions or comments may give away how they are leaning on the issue.
He told the dinner audience the threat to Alabama was so bad, when state officials requested clarification and special training as to when they would be violating federal rules, the Department of Homeland Security, headed by Arizona’s former Gov. Janet Napolitano, declined to respond.
What is happening is the federal government is telling Alabama officials they could violate a federal law, but refuse to help the state’s law enforcement ensure they don’t, Dever said.
During his speech, Dever reiterated many of the comments he has made over the past few years, to include questioning the number of illegal immigrants, saying the 11 million number has been used for years and is too few, to re-emphasizing the deterioration of the quality of life for border residents, to the increase in the drug trade along the border, noting in the past those engaged in criminal acts — smuggling illegal immigrants or drugs — seldom carried weapons but now “they are all armed.”
Arizona, Alabama and other states’ law enforcement officers, at all levels, are being stymied by the federal government’s “do it our way or else,” dictates, the Cochise County Sheriff said.
The federal government has failed for years to secure and control the border, and that has happened under Democrat and Republican administrations, but still the big government, not those in the field but their bosses, want to further hinder states from protecting their citizens, Dever said.
“We are being handcuffed by the folks in Washington, D.C.,” Dever said.
0bammy's FedMob is engaged in deliberate obstruction of justice. Not that that's a new thing.
I disagree! They know EXACTLY what they are doing. It is a calculated political move to secure even more power and diminish the rights of the states under a Constitution that the Marxist administration deems an obstruction to their goal of dictatorial power.
I suspect the conservative members of the Supreme Court have been waiting for a chance to whack the DoJ over the head, and this might be it.
Fast & Furious, New Black Panthers at the polls, vote fraud, selective enforcement on racial issues ... oh yeah. The Supremes most assuredly have been watching this legal stuff and I expect they have something to say.
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