Expert: Arizona Immigration Law Coincides with Federal Law

PHOENIX - A new FOX News Opinion Dynamics Poll shows the American public is overwhelmingly supportive of Arizona.

By a 2-1 margin, people say individual states should be able to implement their own immigration laws. And a substantial majority, 52 to 31 percent, actually want their state to pass a law like Arizona's.

65 percent want local authorities to be able to question anyone they think may be in the country illegally.

All the Arizona legislation did is make it a misdemeanor in Arizona to violate federal immigration law.

President Obama takes a very different view. He recently argued that even a longtime Hispanic citizen could be treated like a criminal.

"Now suddenly if you don't have your papers and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you're going to be harassed, that's something that could potentially happen," said the President.

But Arizona Senator John McCain disagrees. "That someone can't even go out for ice cream without being harassed… is one of the more outrageous statements I've ever heard."

People can only be stopped and questioned after breaking a law or an ordinance. If the person driving to get ice cream is a citizen, presumably, he or she has a driver's license.

"So in Arizona they say, look. If you have a driver's license, then any suspicion of your immigration status, being illegal, goes away. You're free and clear," says immigration lawyer Kris Kobach, who helped construct the bill.

Though numerous administration officials have admitted not having read the law, the president also makes this assertion.

"One of the things that the law says is that local officials are allowed to ask somebody who they have a suspicion might be an illegal immigrant for their papers," said the president in Iowa.

If the President believes that is wrong, his complaint is with federal law, not Arizona's.

"It is already federal law that an alien in the United States must register and carry certain documents with him while he's in the United States. In fact it's been federal law for 70 years," says Kobach.

Nor is it news to local law officers. They check the immigration status of those they stop on suspicion of a crime.

"The federal government has a 24-7 hotline that's been in place for about 15 years for exactly that purpose. And it's being used more than a thousand times a day all over the country," says Kobach.

The defenders of the immigration law say it's essentially the same as federal law -- which the president is bound to uphold.

The poll

1. Should Individual States Have The Right To Make Own Immigration Laws?
Yes 65%
No 32%

2. Your State Passing an Immigration Law like Arizona's New Law
Favor 52%
Oppose 31%
Unsure 18%
May 18-19, 2010
Non-Arizonan Registered Voters

3. Local Law Enforcement Questioning Anyone They Think Is In the Country Illegally
Favor 65%
Oppose 30%