IMMIGRATION LAW

Chuck Smith is opposed to all forms of illegal immigration. Current Federal legislation makes it a crime to enter the U.S. in any place other than designated by immigration officers, and punishment for violating that statute is imprisonment for up to 6 months, and for a second offense, up to 2 years. Two thousand people per day violate that statute. Officials estimate that there are 20 million illegal aliens in our country today.

State representatives have been begging Congress and the Federal Government for decades to just enforce the federal laws on the books, and the federal government has repeatedly refused to enforce the laws and deport the illegal aliens.

Arizona is facing a crisis as wave after wave of illegal aliens cross into their state every day. Federal agents arrested 500,000 illegal aliens entering Arizona in eight months. It is estimated that the border patrol only catches one out of five illegals. These millions of illegal aliens that cross the border bring with them crime, drugs and poverty that places a tremendous burden on the people and law enforcement officers of Arizona.

Our nation spends more than 4.7 billion dollars per year treating illegal aliens in hospitals, and over 17% of those in federal prison are illegal aliens. Officials estimate that we spend over 30 billion dollars per year to educate illegal aliens in our public schools. Arizona has the second highest number of kidnappings in the WORLD, just behind Mexico City. Can you believe that Arizona (yes, here in America) is the second kidnapping capital of the world? Al Qaeda terrorist organizations are showing in their training videos how to sneak into America exploiting vulnerabilities in our southern border.

Under normal circumstances, it would seem that Arizona would not need to enact a law protecting its own borders, because the federal government is charged with the responsibility of protecting our borders. However, given the fact that the federal government has miserably failed in it’s duties to protect the citizens of Arizona, the people must rise up and defend themselves against this onslaught of criminals violating both federal and state law. The Arizona law, is no more restrictive than the federal law, and merely acts to supplement it; so that state law enforcement officers can help the federal officers do their jobs.

The rhetoric from the left regarding this new Arizona law is just purely false. The new Arizona law is not cutting any new ground, or making new crimes. The Arizona immigration law merely mirrors current federal law. Title 8 of the U.S. Code, section 1304 requires that every alien carry with him or have in his possession certificate of alien registration or registration receipt card. Section 1306 of the US Code requires an alien to apply for registration and be fingerprinted, and failure to do so can result in criminal prosecution. There are only two sections of the Arizona law that do not mirror existing federal law, first, the new law makes it illegal to pick up a day laborer in the street; and second, the law allows citizens to sue the government for failure to enforce the law.

The Arizona law actually holds state law enforcement officer to a HIGHER standard than federal officers when approaching a suspect regarding their immigration status. The Arizona’s law requires the officer to have made a lawful stop and have reasonable suspicion. The US Supreme court has already ruled that a federal agent does not have to have a lawful stop or reasonable suspicion, but can ask any one for their papers any time.

Arizona has passed a law that is more restrictive on their law enforcement officers than the federal counterpart so that state law enforcement officers can assist federal officers in defending their border.