re: Texas can’t deport illegals

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I thought the Texas law of handling illegals mirrors the Federal law ( which isn't being enforced)

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Kennedy's opinion embraced an expansive view of the United States Government's authority to regulate immigration and aliens, describing it as "broad" and "undoubted". That authority derived from the legislative power of Congress to "establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization", enumerated in the Constitution,[41] as well as the longstanding interpretation of federal sovereignty in areas pertaining to the control and conduct of relations with foreign nations.[42] In this context, federal discretion as to whether or how immigration laws are enforced is an important component of Congressional authority. At the same time, Justice Kennedy's opinion acknowledged the serious concerns experienced by Arizona citizens and officials in dealing with illegal immigration, noting that signs along highways south of Phoenix, Arizona, discourage travel by the public because of dangerous smuggling activities.

The majority opinion analyzed the four provisions in question within the framework of preemption, derived from the Supremacy Clause, requiring federal law to prevail when state and federal laws conflict. The Court held that "the Federal Government has occupied the field of alien registration" and so all state action and "even complementary state regulation is impermissible."[43] Therefore, the registration provisions of Section 3 were preempted by federal law. In contrast to Section 3, the criminal provisions of Section 5 had no direct counterpart under federal law, which led the Court to apply the "ordinary principles of preemption" rather than the doctrine of field preemption. Under those principles, Section 5 stood as an obstacle to the objectives of Congress of not imposing "criminal penalties on aliens who seek or engage in unauthorized employment". Therefore, Section 5 was also preempted by federal law.

Section 6 of SB 1070 was also found to be preempted by federal law on the basis that it created an "obstacle to the full purposes and objectives of Congress". The Court noted that it is not generally a crime for a removable alien to be present in the United States and that Section 6 would give state officers "even greater authority to arrest aliens on the basis of possible removability than Congress has given to trained federal immigration officers." Furthermore, the removal process is "entrusted to the discretion of the Federal Government."

The majority upheld Section 2 but did so by reading it in a more restrictive manner. The provisions at issue required Arizona officers to make a "reasonable attempt" to determine the immigration status of any person stopped, detained, or arrested on a legitimate basis if "reasonable suspicion" existed that the person is an alien and is unlawfully present in the United States.[44] Additionally, any arrestee's immigration status would have to have been determined before they could be released.[44] Status checks would have been made through Immigration and Customs Enforcement and their databases. Listing several examples, Justice Kennedy wrote that Section 2(B) "likely would survive preemption" if it is interpreted to require only state officers to conduct a status check "during the course of an authorized, lawful detention or after a detainee has been released." Underlining the cautious approach that the majority took to Section 2(B) were Justice Kennedy's final words on the section: "This opinion does not foreclose other preemption and constitutional challenges to the law as interpreted and applied after it goes into effect."

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