At the weekend, civil rights protesters show up in Phoenix to voice their opposition to a new law on the books in Arizona that would specifically address illegal immigration. The protesters were mostly concerned that the new law will lead to racial profiling of Hispanics. Still, Arizona lawmakers have a point to the new law. Arizona is currently the busiest gateway into the U.S. for illegal immigrants, drug smuggling and human trafficking. There are an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants in the state.

The new law requires the police about their immigration status, and ask for identification if they suspect that someone in the country illegally sought. Brewer in January, the Republican governor of Arizona, noted that opponents were simply overreacting. To be honest, in a state where illegal immigration is such a problem, clearly a new law was justified. Brewer noted, “We have more in Arizona than have been patiently waiting for Washington to act. But decades of inaction and misguided policies have led to a dangerous and unacceptable situation.”

President Obama himself called the Arizona bill “misguided” and even asked the Justice Department to investigate to determine if the bill was legal. Obama also said the federal government should immigration reform at the national level to establish or subjected to “irresponsibility of others.” Since the federal legislation is stalled by failure, it seems that Brewer has the upper hand in the war of words with Obama’s comments about “irresponsibility” best addressed in Washington DC instead of Arizona, who clearly needs leaders more familiar with the problems in her own backyard.