Obama: Making Illegal Immigration Illegal is a 'Misguided Effort'

Meredith Jessup | April 23, 2010 12:32 PM

President Obama slammed Arizona's attempts to take back control of America's southern border with stringent enforcement of immigration laws. After a naturalization ceremony this morning, the president chided the state's efforts, calling them "irresponsible" and "misguided."

Indeed our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others. And that includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona which threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe. In fact, I've instructed members of my administration to closely monitor the situation and examine the civil rights and other implications of this legislation, but if we continue to fail to act at the federal level we will continue to see misguided efforts opening up around the country.