Illegal Immigration Research Paper

Is it Unconstitutional for States to Imprison Undocumented Immigrants?
Michael Gibbons, December 8th, 2015, Issue 19
Facts:
The United States recognizes that one of the most important and sensitive topics with foreign nations is diplomacy. By arresting a citizen from another nation it may cause tension between the two countries, (Katsh 283). In 2010 the state of Arizona approved a bill which allowed law enforcement agencies to arrest any person which was not a legal United States citizen while within the State of Arizona, (Katsh 283-284). The argument from the state was that by passing the bill the state government was going to assist the federal government by reducing the number of illegal immigrants which were out on the streets and potentially …show more content…
1070, as described is to “discourage and deter the unlawful entry and presence of aliens and economic activity by persons unlawfully present in the United States,” (Katsh 285). Gaining citizenship in the United States can takes months if not longer as well as thousands and thousands of dollars for lawyer and court fees. Seeing as such the Department of Homeland Security, specifically Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a detailed and carefully drawn out process to remove individuals who enter the country illegally as it can be a very sensitive matter. By allowing local or state law enforcement to arrest these individuals it removes the federal guidelines and structure from the process, undermining the federal government. A main issue with the Arizona statute is that there are preexisting federal laws in place for immigration, so by the standard the federal law must come first therefore the Arizona statute is disregarded and utterly …show more content…
Although the primary responsibility regarding immigration falls to the federal government, however if the federal government is unable to enforce their immigration laws and policies it falls on the state government to do so. The state of Arizona has thousands and thousands of individuals going through their United States Mexico border each year, some of which use false identification. There are also thousands of people each year who arrive in our country illegally by means of human smuggling across the border. There are places along the border where the United States National Guard assists the Border and Custom Patrol officers due to the high influx of people. The State of Arizona must have the authority to protect their borders and use whatever means necessary to do

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