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I think its ironic that a lot of those who kiss the asses of illegals argue that illegal immigration is a federal issue while supporting states that grant sanctuary to illegals.
While you look at this issue as black-and-white (undocumented immigrants, bad; those who want to deport undocumented immigrants, good) the issue is far more nuanced than that. Local authorities instruct local law enforcement officials to not investigate the immigration status of suspects or prisoners in their custody, because of the rational thinking is that such restraint will make victims and witnesses more likely to help police. If these people knew that if they came forward they'd be targets of deportation, they would head underground and law enforcement would lose their witnesses.
Then, of course, is the matter of federalism. James Madison wrote in Federalist 45 that the powers delegated to the federal government under the U.S. Constitution, are few and defined. What happens when the federal government goes beyond those limited and enumerated powers? One powerful check is provided by the judiciary, which Madison described to Congress in 1789 as "an impenetrable bulwark against every assumption of power in the legislative or executive." If only his description of the courts held true in more cases. Another key check is provided by the states. Madison wrote in Federalist 46, "Should an unwarrantable measure of the federal government be unpopular in particular states, which would seldom fail to be the case, the means of opposition to it are powerful and at hand."
This is a federalism issue because the federal government has no constitutional authority to command state officials to carry out federal whims. The federal courts clearly support the states in this fight. As the late Justice Antonin Scalia observed in his 2007 majority opinion in Printz v. United States, "the Federal Government may neither issue directives requiring the States to address particular problems, nor command the States' officers, or those of their political subdivisions, to administer or enforce a federal regulatory program."
I object to upholding constitutional principles as, "kiss the asses of illegals."