Obama Must Act Now

The internet is buzzing; TV talking heads are babbling; and newspaper headlines are blaring. Arizona has decided to go it alone. Fed up with the waves of illegal immigrants coming into its state, Arizona has passed a law giving state police broad powers to stop people in order to make 'inquiries' of their immigration status. The most generous observers call it a desperate measure by a desperate state. The least generous observers call it racial profiling which is illegal. President Obama has roundly criticized it. Whatever you may believe, it is a taste of things to come unless the Federal government stops stalling, takes the bull by the horns and handles this problem for the whole nation. States like Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California and actually throughout the nation are forced to provide health, education and general welfare to folks who entered this country illegally. I'm not by any means suggesting that we should activate the National Guard and round them up wholesale and send them back. But let's at least come up with a solution to the problem so that we can determine who these folks are, where they came from, how many there are and how much they're earning so that eventually we can devise a system whereby they're contributing toward most, if not all, of the services they receive. Notice I haven't said anything about the crimes they may or may not be committing. I suspect they're not responsible for any where near the number their critics claim. On the other hand, no one really knows. It's an important issue and now that Obama has accomplished pretty much what he set out to do with health care reform, it's time for him to take this on. Yes, it's a political hot potato and yes he's going to get major grief from the republicans but, hey, what else is new? They opted out the minute he was sworn in. So get on with it.