Immigration solutions appear few, far between

The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling this week kept in place one portion of Arizona's immigration law, but rejecting most of the legislation as unconstitutional, according to the Associated Press.

A part of the law that was overruled involved local police arresting people for federal immigration violations. Justices advised against holding people for not having immigration papers, according to the Associated Press's article.

The remaining piece of legislation requires Arizona police to request proof of citizenship from those pulled over or arrested by local law enforcement for other reasons. But during that stop, officers would not be allowed to arrest people on immigration violations.

According to a June survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 58 percent of Americans indicated they agree with the 2010 Arizona laws and 38 percent said they disapprove.

Of those surveyed, 42 percent stated they thought giving equal priority to tighter restrictions and creating a path to citizenship should be top priorities.

About 28 percent said just tougher border security and stricter law enforcement should be the main focus and 27 percent said tougher border security and stricter law enforcement should be the priority. More than a quarter, 27 percent, stated devising a way for unauthorized immigrants to become citizens alone should be the most important. Hispanics disapprove of Arizona's laws, rather they back making a path to citizenship a priority instead of tightening borders, the Pew Research Center states.

But is creating new laws the solution? That's tough to say.

Grant County Prosecutor Angus Lee said he would like to see the federal government go after people committing crimes, not go after people just trying to work.

"There are a lot of people here who work hard doing jobs no one else tries to do," he said. "Our community benefits from that."

At the same time, the issue of people illegally staying in the country just to commit crimes needs to be addressed, Lee said.

Based on his experience, the area's federal immigration officer does what he can, but is restricted when dealing with criminals unlawfully in this country. As a result, all criminals are not deported, Lee said.

Maybe some reforms for documentation purposes could be helpful, Lee said.

"My concern is people have been talking about comprehensive reform forever," Lee said. "It's a great goal, but let's first take care of people committing crimes."

The disagreements over immigration reform and how to best go about it appears far from being solved.

How do our leaders solve the issue of more than 11 million immigrants in this country illegally, using healthcare, schools and social services? While some are working and contributing to society, others are not. This issue trickles down to the local level and there are no easy solutions.

At the same time, our country is a melting pot of people from different nationalities whom we want to feel welcome and encourage to become citizens legally. People who come to America for a better life are to be applauded for trying to improve their situations and make something of themselves.

Let's hope the federal government makes the issue a priority and focuses on enforcing existing laws.

It's not productive to force individual states to create their own laws out of desperation if they're later overruled on the national level.

- Editorial board