The Department of Justice filed suit against California on Wednesday, seeking to preemptively prevent the state from interfering with federal immigration authorities. Specifically, the DOJ is challenging three California laws recently passed — Assembly Bill 450, Senate Bill 54, and Assembly Bill 103. In a press release early Wednesday, the DOJ said these laws “intentionally obstruct and discriminate against the enforcement of federal immigration law.”
The DOJ is correct constitutionally. The states cannot interfere with federal immigration law or pick and choose when and how the state complies. Regardless of one’s particular political ideology regarding immigration reform, as a constitutional question, the federalist system of the U.S. under our Constitution designates the power to determine immigration and naturalization law and policy to the federal government — specifically, to Congress to create the law under Article 1 and to the executive branch to enforce under Article 2.
