Arizona tried

That giant sucking sound we’ve been hearing is created by the national leadership vacuum failing to face up to illegal immigration.

The mess created in Arizona can be traced directly back to our weak-kneed federal officials who are more concerned about re-election than they are solving an issue that is rocking the country.

Arizona, feeling under siege from illegal immigration with no help in sight from Washington reacted in its defense with a law of its own. Too bad it didn’t do a better job with it.

The result was a law that opens the door for U.S. citizens to be profiled based on their looks, and unleashed a barrage of economic threats and boycotts from those who oppose it.

Colorado and other states looking to Arizona for guidance should stand back and watch to see how the law works before thinking of it as a model.

Reasonable people might hope that the federal government would now recognize that Southern border states are fed up and desperate. After all, immigration is a national issue, indeed a national responsibility.

Don’t expect the federal government, however, to pass meaningful immigration reform anytime soon.

We can’t fault Arizona for giving up watching the horizon for the federal rescue that just wasn’t coming. We can fault the state’s leaders for pushing through a measure that clearly needs work and puts anyone who doesn’t match a police officer’s vision of “American” at risk of having to prove citizenship. Court challenges are lining up.

We should demand the federal government step up and step in before we have a mess of inconsistent state laws that create an even bigger mess.

— The Tribune, Greeley, Colo.