(Alan D. Bersin/John Morton — Wall Street Journal)
Last year, illegal crossings in the Southwest were down 23%, to a fraction of their all-time high
Yesterday, after months of heated rhetoric and debate about Arizona's controversial new immigration law, federal Judge Susan Bolton blocked most of SB 1070 from taking effect. The move served as an important affirmation of the federal government's responsibility in enforcing our nation's immigration laws. But regardless of what happened with this case, this administration will continue to enforce the law, just as we have been doing for the past 18 months: with unprecedented resources and a clear commitment to serious, smart and effective enforcement that has yielded important results.
We are career prosecutors who lead the two main border and immigration enforcement agencies in the United States—U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). We know the paramount importance of enforcing the law and we understand the federal government's responsibilities. And what we have seen on the border, at workplaces, and in communities across America in the past 18 months represents the most serious approach to enforcement we have witnessed in our careers.
Read the complete editorial here.
