By: John Rossomando
Sarah Palin assesses President Barack Obama’s approach to immigration bluntly: declaring that he doesn’t have the “cojones” to enforce the nation’s laws.
The former Alaska governor used the term — the Spanish word for “testicles” that often is used to mean courage — during a Fox News interview Sunday as she praised Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer for standing up against the Obama administration’s lawsuit to block enforcement of the state’s immigration law.
Brewer “has the cojones that our president does not have,” Palin told Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace. “If our own president will not enforce a federal law, more power to Jan Brewer and 44 other states who are in line to support Jan Brewer in state laws, state efforts to do what our president won’t do.”
A federal district court judge on Wednesday blocked enforcement of key provisions of Arizona’s immigration law, including the section instructing law enforcement officers to check a person’s immigration status where “reasonable suspicion” exists a person they have detained is illegal.
Palin, who described the court injunction as “temporary,” praised Brewer for continuing the fight with the Obama administration to enforce the law. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is expected hear Arizona’s appeal in early November.
The former Republican vice-presidential candidate also pointed to the administration’s failure to act against so-called “sanctuary cities” around the country that refuse to turn illegal immigrants over to federal authorities to show the hypocrisy of its argument against the Arizona law.
The administration contends that Arizona has circumvented federal law by ordering local authorities to enforce federal immigration law but has not applied the same reasoning to cities that refuse to enforce the same laws.
“The Obama administration did not put up a fight at all against this idea . . . of having sanctuary cities,” Palin said. “We’ve seen state laws where they are allowing for sanctuary cities, and that trumps a federal law, yet nobody’s saying ‘boo’ about that.
“Jan Brewer and other governors were protecting their citizens — protecting the nation as a whole — were very, very faithful that they are willing to go toe to toe and go all the way to the Supreme Court if need be and get this thing resolved.”
Meanwhile, Obama, appearing on CBS’ “Early Show” with Harry Smith Sunday, Obama said he understands people’s frustration with illegal immigration but warned against states taking action on their own.
“I understand the frustration of people in Arizona. But what we can’t do is demagogue the issue,” Obama said on the program, which was taped Friday and also aired Monday. “And what we can’t do is allow a patchwork of 50 different states, or cities or localities, where anybody who wants to make a name for themselves suddenly says, ‘I’m gonna be anti-immigrant, and I’m gonna try to see if I can solve the problem ourself.”
