Bill Ruthhart, writing for the Indianapolis Star, has an article about the passage of SB 580 concerning “unauthorized alien matters.” What struck me most about the article was the juxtaposition of these comments about the bill:

“This issue is not about the value of a human being. All human beings have value,” said Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, a co-author of the bill. “This is about national sovereignty and the rule of law.”

Opponents argued that immigration is a federal issue and that the state legislature should not intervene.

Presumably when Sen. Delph contemplates national sovereignty and the rule of law, he is thinking about maintaining the integrity of our borders and nationality. However, the nature of his opponents’ arguments suggests that Delph is not so concerned with the federalism aspect of national sovereignty and rule of law — when the federales preempt the states on an issue, the states can go suck eggs.

The divide on this issue is not strictly partisan. Of the 13 “no” votes in the Senate, 9 were Democrats and 4 were Republicans. The Democratically controlled House passed an immigration bill last year, but the House and Senate failed to reach a compromise. It has not been a priority of Governor Daniels who is wary of the business implications. The bill would suspend the state business license of businesses that knowingly, on three separate occasions, hire undocumented workers. It would also require all businesses to use the E-Verify system.