Protect our citizens, Mr. President!

An estimated 3 million people enter the United States illegally every year, over half a million of them over the Arizona border. Fed up with the complete inaction in Washington to protect and defend our borders, the state of Arizona took matters into its own hands. On April 23, first-term Gov. Jan Brewer signed a law that requires police officers to check the immigration papers of individuals they stop or arrest if they suspect that they may not have legal immigration status in the U.S.

Those who support the law claim the provision will strengthen security along the Mexican border and ensure that people who enter this country do so legally. Those who oppose the law claim that it’s unconstitutional and welcomes racial profiling.

The Obama administration and our favorite attorney general, Eric Holder, have been on pins and needles about the possibility of a state trumping any proposed federal law. After meeting with Brewer on July 6, Holder filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block the implementation of the law, which is to take effect July 29.

The lawsuit will undoubtedly set up another epic Supreme Court battle between the federal government and the states.

Unfortunately, President Obama is reported to have told Sen. John Kyl of Arizona that if the U.S. were to devote more assets to stopping illegal immigrants from coming over the border, it would be more difficult to get Congress to consider immigration reform.

Shame on you, Mr. President! The most important responsibility of our government is to provide for the safety of its citizens. Securing the borders to keep the drug cartels, terrorists and millions of illegal immigrants from flooding into our country is a federal responsibility that you, as commander and chief of this nation, must undertake.

The fact remains that right now, this country is losing the war at its borders. Violence along the U.S.-Mexico border, spurred by drug cartels, has now become a threat to national security. To combat the threat, Arizona has decided that it will be a crime in that state to enter illegally.

In legal terms, the federal government’s strongest case is that it has the authority when it comes to immigration law, and not individual states. However, Obama claims that the basis for the lawsuit is racial profiling, and if you read The New York Times, you would think he’s right. However, his reasoning is completely backward. Instead of challenging the constitutionality of the Arizona legislation, the administration should be working to gain the support of the Mexican government to help us secure the border.

In an editorial, the Times wrote that the “chaos of the immigration system” can be stopped with a comprehensive reform bill. However, it added, “stamping out unjust laws like Arizona’s is a good place to start.” Wrong! It’s the responsibility of our federal government to stop or at the very least deter illegal immigration. Arizona’s lawmakers were forced to act due to the federal government’s persistent failure to protect their border and their citizens.

Brewer is certainly stirring the pot, and I give her a lot of credit. Her own attorney general, Terry Goddard, withdrew from defending her in court against various lawsuits. (He plans to run against her in 2012.) However, she won’t be defeated, and with the support of 70 percent of the residents of her state, she has hired private counsel, funded by the $500,000 that has been donated so far to the Arizona Border Security & Immigration Legal Defense Fund.

Immigration is an important political issue to all Americans, not just those who share the border with Mexico. Make no mistake about it: Mexican immigrants and Arizona’s citizens won’t be the only people affected by this lawsuit against the Arizona law. A majority of Americans support Brewer and believe that our government must crack down on illegal immigration. Once again, Obama has lost touch with the ideals of most Americans.

I predict that this ill-founded legal challenge will lead to a backlash against the administration in the upcoming November elections. But the bottom line is that it’s about time the federal government lived up to its responsibility to protect our citizens. The administration’s lawsuit against the Arizona law is a waste of time and resources and is dividing this country.

Al D’Amato, a former U.S. senator from New York, is the founder of Park Strategies LLC, a public policy and business development firm. Comments about this column? ADAmato@liherald.com.