JONESBORO – First District Congressional candidate, United States Army veteran, and agri-business owner Rick Crawford has condemned U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton’s temporary injunction against critical parts of the recently-passed Arizona immigration law.  The law was set to go into effect today.  Crawford also called on the Administration to back down on its lawsuit against the law and promised to push for passage of legislation that will crack down on illegal immigration.

In April, Arizona passed SB 1070.  The most controversial parts of the sweeping law require police officers to “make a reasonable attempt to determine the immigration status of a person stopped, detained or arrested.” The law also makes it a crime to “for an unauthorized alien to solicit, apply for or perform work.”  It is already a violation of Federal law for an employer to knowingly hire or employ an illegal alien.

Crawford says, “The Arizona law is a common sense law.  A police officer should be free to run a background check on anyone he stops for violation of a traffic law. The officer should not be the subject of a Federal lawsuit; he should be applauded for doing good police work.  The Administration should drop its lawsuit.”

This month the Obama Administration, acting through Attorney General Eric Holder, sued Arizona, claiming the Federal government has sole responsibility for addressing immigration issues.  Judge Bolton issued the injunction in response to the Obama Administration’s lawsuit.  The injunction temporarily prevents the above-described sections from going into effect.

“The old joke used to be, ‘we’re from the government and we’re here to help.’  However, now the Obama Administration is telling Arizona, ‘we’re from the government and we’re here to prevent you from helping.’”  Crawford continued, “It is hypocritical for Eric Holder to sue Arizona for dealing with a problem the Obama Administration has failed to address.  The residents of the First District can be sure when I’m elected; I will not duck the tough issues.”