Immigration frustration

No state should have to enforce federal immigration laws. And any state that takes on this task because Washington neglects it shouldn't have to fight the U.S. Justice Department in court. Too bad that's what Arizona is now being forced to do.

The Obama administration evidently brings much more zeal to the mission of overturning Arizona's new immigration law than it does to the mission of enforcing federal immigration laws. The Justice Department scored an early victory in what could be a prolonged court battle Wednesday when a federal judge's ruling pulled -- for now -- the enforcement teeth from the Arizona law that took effect Thursday (see Rich Lowry's column on today's Commentary page). That legal dispute provides fresh evidence of the intensity of the illegal immigration debate.

So did Thursday's news that Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is suggesting a constitutional amendment denying citizenship to children born to illegal immigrations inside our nation's borders.

He was dubbed "Lindsey Grahamnesty" by Rush Limbaugh a few years ago for joining then-President Bush and Arizona Sen. John McCain in pushing immigration legislation that included a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants.

Maybe Sen. Graham is making a calculated shift to the right to placate his Republican base.

But political maneuvering aside, there is merit in reconsidering the 14th Amendment guarantee that anyone born in the U.S. is a U.S. citizen. That noble ideal, enacted in 1868 to protect former slaves, is severely undermined by the practical reality of many uninvited immigrants timing their illegal entries into our nation so that their children can be born here.

Another practical difficulty: What becomes of the illegal-immigrant parents of U.S. citizens?

Illegal immigration has imposed heavy public costs, especially in the states along our 2,000-mile border with Mexico. And while the economic downturn has slowed the human influx over the past year, 11 million illegal immigrants are already here. A congressional overhaul of immigration policy is obviously overdue.

No, we can't round up and deport all of those "illegals," many of whom are hard workers whose violations of law are limited to their immigration status.

Yes, the Arizona law raises racial profiling concerns despite a revision aimed at forbidding that practice.

But Arizona's legislature would never have passed that law if Washington had been doing its job.

And our nation's illegal immigration problems will never be solved until Congress passes a comprehensive reform bill that the administration is willing to enforce.