No hypocrisy

In a March 11 editorial, the Review-Journal bemoans the fact that California has chosen to pass a series of “sanctuary state” measures intended to undermine federal immigration law.

The paper points out a case in which the Democrats cheered a U.S. Supreme Court decision that limited Arizona’s ability to engage in immigration enforcement, ruling that it was a federal prerogative. The RJ points out the hypocrisy of the Democrats in supporting state law over federal law in the California case and supporting federal law over state law in the Arizona case.

Obviously, however, the writer did not give a lot of thought to the two cases.

In the Arizona case, the Supreme Court ruled that immigration enforcement is the prerogative of the federal government, not the states. In the California case, California is claiming that immigration enforcement is the prerogative of the federal government, not the states. I fail to see any hypocrisy in this. All California officials are doing is stating that they are not responsible for doing the federal government’s work in rounding up illegals because it is federal law, not state law, that they are violating.

Yes, we are a nation of laws, and both progressives and conservatives are free to disregard laws that they don’t like — as long as they are willing to accept the consequences of not following those laws. That’s why we have criminal courts and prisons. Richard Pratt Las Vegas