Lack of Leadership in the Immigration Debate

CBS News: A little-known federal law has escaped the headlines. With the debate focused on Arizona’s controversial new immigration law, our elected leaders in Washington have turned a blind eye to the federal laws over which they exercise control. Long before Arizona passed its law that will soon authorize law enforcement to demand immigration papers from anyone upon "reasonable suspicion" of being an illegal alien, the federal government passed a similar law. Indeed, tucked away in Title 8 of the U.S. Code is a provision that expressly authorizes federal immigration officers, without a warrant, "to interrogate any alien or person believed to be an alien as to his right to be or to remain in the United States." (See 8 U.S.C. 1357). This is eerily similar to the Arizona law.