"Abandoned on the Border" The State vs. Fed strife.

For many immigrants the United States stands as a place of opportunity and freedom. This is why millions of people flock to the United States every year... despite our economy as the cartoon above suggests! This influx of people from foreign backgrounds is what makes our country so diverse and unique. Despite the benefits, throughout the history of our country we have always had issues pertaining to immigration.

Most recently the issue involves illegal immigrants coming into the country over the Mexican/American border. Without ample help from the federal government, some state governments, such as Arizona, have taken the border issue, and thus, national security into their own hands. Although the feds were doing little to nothing to contain the border problems of human trafficking, drug smuggling and general border crossing by illegals, as soon as Arizona tried to do something, the feds wanted that power all to themselves. In Article 4 Section 4 of the Constitution, is is stated that “The United States government... shall protect each [state] against Invasion.” So if it is the responsibility of the Federal government to protect the states from damages caused by the invasion of illegal immigrants, they need to do so!

Illegal Mexican immigrants coming into the United States over the border are sometimes drug traffickers or human smugglers but are also sometimes hard-working people aspiring for a better life in the United States. This is where things get worse. The desert terrain at the American/Mexican border, along with the absurd means of border crossing, caused 417 reported deaths of illegal immigrants in 2009 according to the Border Patrol. So not only are drugs being smuggled in, people being inhumanely trafficked across, but people are also dying due to the inaction of the United States government to protect our borders.

In a speech on immigration this past Tuesday, Obama claimed that the government had done everything requested of them to protect the border and went on to sarcastically ask if the people would like a moat, or perhaps alligators in that moat? This joke fell ill-received among the many border citizens that witness violence and inhumanity daily due to the immigration issues. A county sheriff in a Southern Arizona county even wrote a letter, along with many other disappointed citizens to the president questioning how he could make such statements while they deal with real problems on the border, such as a 50 mile wide fire started by criminal illegal immigrants.

Whether or not Obama thinks the government has truly done everything asked of it for the border issues- they obviously haven't because the problem prevails. Hopefully they will either begin to take this issue seriously or step aside and let the states protect themselves on this issue that is directly affecting them.