While the feds waste valuable taxpayer resources to fight Arizona's "unconstitutional" and "racist" immigration control law, Americans in other parts of the country are working to enact similar measures in their state even if it creates a legal war with Uncle Sam.
This week alone, in two vastly different parts of the country, citizens sent a message indicating that they're fed up with the enormous toll that illegal immigration is taking on their communities. Nationwide, Americans annually spend billions of dollars to educate, incarcerate and medically treat illegal aliens as the government sits idly.
The federal inaction has motivated municipalities and private citizens across the country to take action, even if it leads to costly legal battles. In Utah, an anonymous group circulated a list of more than 1,300 illegal immigrants to various state and federal agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Accompanied by a letter from "Concerned Citizens of the United States," the detailed list includes the illegal aliens' phone numbers, addresses and birth dates. The letter claims that the group "observes these individuals in our neighborhoods, driving on our streets, working in our stores, attending our schools and entering our public welfare buildings."
Also this week, a small eastern Nebraska meatpacking town (Fremont) passed a law that bans hiring or renting property to illegal immigrants. Voters in the town of about 25,000 residents approved the measure last month and the city council officially adopted it this week amid lawsuit threats from a notoriously liberal civil rights group. The measure was modeled after a similar ordinance in Hazelton Pennsylvania, which has been engaged in litigation since approving its law in 2006.
An increase in these sorts of local actions to curb illegal immigration is likely, considering that several national polls have revealed that most Americans support them. The surveys also show that an overwhelming majority of Americans oppose the federal government's lawsuit against Arizona's measure which is modeled after the federal statute and makes it a state crime to be in the U.S. illegally, bans "sanctuary city" policies and allows local police to inquire about suspects' immigration status.
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