Democrats and Republicans Point Fingers on Immigration Reform

Three Arizona lawmakers are criticizing the federal government's lawsuit against Arizona over its controversial immigration law, and one of them is a Democrat.

The smell of political desperation is wafting across the country and pushing immigration reform back in to the headlines. Two of those lawmakers, including Sen. John McCain, who lost the 2008 presidential election to President Barack Obama, is in a re-election fight for his political career. Democrat Congresswoman Ann Kilpatrick is running for re-election in a district that McCain won by 10 points in 2008.

Here's a statement from McCain and Arizona's other Republican Senator Jon Kyl:

Attorney General Holder speaks of the "federal government's responsibility" to enforce immigration laws; but what are the people of Arizona left to do when the federal government fails in its responsibility? The Obama administration has not done everything it can do to protect the people of Arizona from the violence and crime illegal immigration brings to our state. Until it does, the federal government should not be suing Arizona on the grounds that immigration enforcement is solely a federal responsibility.

Now here's a statement from Democrat Kilpatrick:

This lawsuit is a sideshow, distracting us from the real task at hand. A court battle between the federal government and Arizona will not move us closer to securing the border or fixing America's broken immigration system. The legal fights and boycotts are drawing focus and attention away from what has to be a policy-driven, substantive debate.

Washington failed us on this issue again today, and Arizonans have had enough. The White House and Congress need to start developing a better approach to border security and immigration reform, working with us instead of against us. Our law enforcement and communities are at risk right now -- this is a time for solutions, not new obstacles

If I didn't label the statements, you wouldn't be able to tell which one came from a Democrat and which came from a Republican.

And that is the case all too often these days. Democrats sometimes sound more Republican than Republicans. Sometimes, it sounds like we have just one giant political party devoted solely to getting re-elected.

Attorney General Eric Holder's Justice Department is doing the right thing by challenging a law that many believe would lead to racial profiling and clearly violates the rights of Americans of color who were born here or those who are here legally.

The one statement I agree with from both politicians is that it is time for substantial immigration reform in this country. Our system is broken.

However, I would also like to take the time to remind the senator and congresswoman that Republicans are the ones who are stalling the passage of necessary and real immigration reform.

President Obama pressured several key Republicans in an effort to support immigration reform last week. Those Republicans backed immigration reform in 2006.

Obama said that immigration reform was being "held hostage" by "political posturing, special-interest wrangling and . . . the pervasive sentiment in Washington that tackling such a thorny and emotional issue is inherently bad politics," the Washington Post reports.

"I'm ready to move, the majority of Democrats are ready to move, and I believe the majority of Americans are ready to move," Obama said in the half-hour speech at American University. "But the fact is that without bipartisan support, as we had just a few years ago, we cannot solve this problem."

As usual, politics is trumping the needs of real Americans, and both parties are guilty. The finger-pointing needs to end and the negotiating should begin.