From the WaPo this morning; the Federal Gov’t is going to sue Arizona over their immigration statute.  The early part of the article explains that the suit is likely to be based on the idea of “preemption”.  Federal laws trump State laws.  This is laid out in the Constitution’s supremacy clause and is well-established.  So far so good. 

Here’s the quote I like:  “Justice Department officials believe that enforcing immigration laws is a federal responsibility”  Really?  So, what happens when they just won’t fulfill their responsibilities?  Willl Justice sue the Feds for not going their job?  Can we sue for that?  It’s not a stretch to say that if the Feds were doing their job in the first place, we would be in a much better situation.  It might not have been perfect but we wouldn’t be here…..  Heck, they’ve even subbed out part of their job in the form of the 287g program.  You know that things are dire when local electeds like me voluntarily underwrite the cost of a Federal program because we were so desperate to get a handle on the situation a couple of years ago.

When will the stuffed suits across the Potomac wake up and take ownership of this problem that only they can fully solve?  After the next election?  2 elections?  never?