Arizona immigration suit fine, but Democrats can't relax

The move was as necessary as it was welcome.

Yet, the Justice Department's lawsuit seeking to block Arizona's anti-immigration law, is not enough for Hispanics - the fastest-growing demographic group in the country - to forgive and forget the Obama administration's many failed promises on immigration matters.

With midterm elections around the corner, this is not auspicious news for the Democratic Party. Fortunately for them, Latinos mistrust Republicans and their increasingly anti-immigrant rhetoric and demagoguery even more than they mistrust Democrats.

"Our country is a better place than the Arizona law makes us seem. Like so many of my colleagues here at the federal level, I remain committed to comprehensive immigration reform," said Rep. José Serrano (D-N.Y.). "Our President is committed, too. We just need to move this issue to the top of the agenda and break the filibusters in the Senate. The time has come to act."

This, of course, is easier said than done. Even though Tuesday's lawsuit and last week's speech by the President have brought immigration to the forefront of political debate, it remains doubtful Democrats are willing to take up such a controversial issue in an election year.

Public opinion research shows two contradictory findings: A majority of Americans support the Arizona law, but an equal or greater number of them support comprehensive immigration reform.

But the contradiction is only in appearance. While public frustration over the federal government's inability to resolve the illegal immigration problem has brought support to the odious Arizona law, most Americans would prefer Washington to take the lead in enacting a rational, humane, comprehensive solution to the crisis.

"The only responsible path for the President, now that the Department of Justice has filed this suit, is to redouble his efforts to ensure that there is a federal solution to our nation's broken immigration system - comprehensive immigration reform," said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum.

The lawsuit asks to declare Arizona's SB 1070 unconstitutional and block the law from going into effect on July 29.

The legal action seeks to stop the enforcement of the law on constitutional grounds, but more importantly it attempts to reassert the federal government's authority over immigration.

"Setting immigration policy and enforcing immigration laws is a national responsibility," agreed Attorney General Eric Holder. "Seeking to address the issue through a patchwork of state laws will only create more problems than it solves."

But there is more to the Arizona law than its ability to create problems. The law "is completely out of step with American values of fairness and equality, it encourages racial profiling, is unconstitutional and is a violation of basic human rights, NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous has said.

Undoubtedly, the Justice Department's action was urgently needed. But until the President goes beyond words and takes action to pass fair and just comprehensive reform that recognizes the immigrants' contributions to their new country, many Hispanics - tired of empty words and broken promises - will choose to stay home on Election Day.